Arvind Kejriwal arrest updates | SC issued notice to ED on plea by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to quash his arrest

Meanwhile, a Delhi court on April 15 extended till April 23 the judicial custody of Chief Minster Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, appearing for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, said the timing of the arrest was fixed to prevent Mr. Kejriwal from campaigning in the ​Lok Sabha polls​.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected to the submission, saying this was factually wrong.

“Mr. Singhvi, we have given you a short date. In no other case have we given such an early date when we could have given you a longer one,” Justice Khanna told the lawyer, before calling the next case.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, appearing for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, said the case was a very unusual one, and not just because Mr. Kejriwal was a Chief Minister.

Mr. Singhvi said the Delhi excise policy case was of September 2022. There was a First Information Report and an Enforcement Case Information Report. There were eight chargesheets and fifteen statements have been recorded in the case so far.

“Mr. Kejriwal’s name does not figure in any of this,” he submitted.

Justice Khanna, however, said that the lawyer should “reserve his arguments for the next date of hearing”.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi’s arguments were two-pronged, for interim release of Mr. Kejriwal and for an “extremely short date” for hearing, possibly for April 19.

“We want to shock your conscience,” Mr. Singhvi submitted.

He said a short date for hearing was the “crux of the matter”.

There had been a lot of “selective leaks all over the place giving everybody a wrong impression” about the case of Mr. Kejriwal, Mr. Singhvi said.

“I am not aware of any selective leaks,” Justice Sanjiv Khanna responded, adding that it was not possible for the court to give a date before the week commencing on April 29.

“We have given you a reasonable date,” the judge told Mr. Singhvi.

Mr. Singhvi requests for an earlier date. However, the Bench declines the plea saying that this is the shortest possible date. 

Justice Khanna: “Issue notice, returnable on the week commencing April 29, 2024.” 

Notice is accepted on behalf of the ED. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and ASG SV Raju agree to file a reply by April 24. Rejoinder to be filed by Mr. Kejriwal by April 26.

“I want to show some facts, to shock the conscience of the Court. There are some selective leaks”, Kejriwal’s counsel asserts. 

He says that there had been a lot of “selective leaks all over the place giving everybody a wrong impression” about the case. 

The Bench has taken up the matter. Senior advocate AM Singhvi is appearing for Mr. Kejriwal.

A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta to shortly hear the Chief Minister’s plea against a ​High Court order that has upheld his arrest​ in a ​money-laundering case​ stemming from the alleged excise policy scam.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal in Tihar jail, an official said.

The meeting took place in the ‘ mulakat jangla,’ a room divided with a glass wall, a Tihar jail official said.

He added that Mr. Mann and Mr. Kejriwal, who is lodged in Tihar’s jail number 2 in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi Excise policy, spoke to each other via intercom.

PTI

AAP’s Delhi unit convenor and Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai accused the BJP Government at the Centre of misusing the federal investigating agencies. “Delhiites, when your son Arvind Kejriwal was outside (jail), he fulfilled his duty... Today he cannot even meet his family. The BJP has the power of government but we have the power of votes given by Babasaheb. With the power of our vote, we will fight and give the answer on May 25,” he added.

PTI

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha was sent to judicial custody till April 23 by the Rouse Avenue Court on Monday, in the Delhi excise policy case. Ms. Kavitha, following her arrest on March 15 by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the alleged scam, was arrested by the CBI on Thursday which is also investigating the case. A Delhi court on Friday then sent her CBI custody till April 15.

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While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has pulled out all the stops to muster public support for its national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody on corruption charges, the response of people on the streets seems divided between scepticism regarding the “intention” behind his arrest and the feeling that he must have committed some wrong.

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Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raises disturbing questions about the direction of India’s democracy and federalism. 

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Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh claimed that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was not being allowed in-person meetings with his family in Tihar jail.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Singh said, “There is an attempt to break the morale of CM Kejriwal.

“His family has not been allowed in-person meetings with him. They are only allowed to meet him through the jangla. This is inhuman. Even hardcore criminals are allowed in-person meetings,” the AAP leader said.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma while pronouncing the verdict said that the AAP supremo was actively involved in the concealment of proceeds of crime, as per evidence advanced by the ED. She also recorded a prima facie finding that there was adequate material, including statements of approvers, involvement of middlemen and references that cash was handed over for expenditure in the 2022 Goa assembly elections.

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Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on March 21, hours after his plea for interim protection from arrest was rejected by the Delhi High Court. This is the first instance of a Chief Minister in India being put behind bars while still in office.

Read the story here

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Watch | What was the New Delhi Excise Policy all about, and why is Arvind Kejriwal in trouble?

Arvind Kejriwal arrest: An explainer on the New Delhi Excise Policy on liquor which was scrapped in 2022, and has landed Arvind Kejriwal and other senior AAP leaders in trouble

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the ED opposed foreign travel of the government witness at whose testimony Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in the excise policy case.

Mr. Singh questioned the agency’s intentions in doing that and cited in support a media report, according to which, the Enforcement Directorate opposed the foreign travel of P. Sarath Chandra Reddy, a non-executive director of Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma, in a court three months before Mr. Kejriwal’s arrest.

There was no immediate reaction from the ED against the allegation.

PTI