Supreme Court to hear Arvind Kejriwal's plea against arrest on April 15

Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court upheld his arrest by the central agency.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India will hear Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea against arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, on April 15. Earlier this month, the Delhi high court upheld his arrest by the central agency.

Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal leaves the Rouse Avenue Court after he was produced by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.(PTI file photo)

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will hear the matter, reported news agency ANI.

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate last month in connection with the money laundering probe linked to the Delhi excise policy case. Last week, a Delhi court sent him to judicial custody till April 15.

Arvind Kejriwal had moved the Supreme Court after the Delhi high court said there was no contravention of legal provisions.

The Delhi high court ruled that the Enforcement Directorate had sufficient materials to justify the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. The court said the agency could not be blamed for choosing the timing of the chief minister's arrest as he pushed it to a point where it had no other option.

The 103-page judgment by the single judge bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed that material placed on record before the court showed that Kejriwal had allegedly conspired with other persons and was involved in the formulation of the policy.

“He (Kejriwal) is allegedly involved in the offence of money laundering in two capacities. Firstly, in his personal capacity as he was involved in the formulation of the excise policy and in demanding kickbacks. Secondly, in his capacity as the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party as per Section 70(1) of PMLA, for use of proceeds of crime of ₹45 crore in AAP’s election campaign in 2022 Goa elections," the court said.

Arvind Kejriwal had approached the high court on March 23, claiming the ED's action violated his fundamental rights and was motivated by politics.

Apart from Kejriwal, AAP leader Manish Sisodia has been in jail since February last year in the same case. Sanjay Singh, another AAP leader in jail, recently got bail in the case.

The CBI and ED have alleged that AAP leaders accepted ₹100 crore as kickbacks from a group of politicians and liquor businessmen to grant licenses to them under the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. They claim that the policy favoured certain liquor traders at the expense of the public exchequer.

With inputs from agencies