The primacy concern for the court is to uphold the constitutional morality rather than political morality, the Delhi High Court said on Tuesday while rejecting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest and rebuking him for “casting aspersions” on the judicial process.
The Bench of Swarana Kanta Sharma also observed that the money laundering case against Mr. Kejriwal is “not a conflict between the Central government and the Chief Minister but a case between him and the Enforcement Directorate [ED]”.
The court made the observations as the CM had questioned the timing of his arrest, saying it affects the “level-playing field” in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
He had also said the statements of approvers Raghav Magunta and Sarath Reddy can’t be relied upon as they had not implicated him initially but only at a later stage in exchange of ensuring that they get bail and pardon.
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Justice Sharma observed that in such legal proceedings it is crucial for the court to maintain its focus solely on the legal merits of the case.
“Political factors or dynamics should not and have never influenced the court’s deliberations or decision-making process,” the court said.
On the Chief Minister’s submission against the approvers, the High Court said, “...to doubt and cast aspersions regarding the manner of granting of pardon or recording the statement of an approver amounts to casting aspersions on the judicial process, since granting of pardon or recording of statement of an approver is not the domain of investigating agency.”
CM’s conduct
The court also questioned Mr. Kejriwal’s conduct of not joining the investigation despite several summonses, saying it left little option with the ED other than arresting him for the purpose of investigation of a pending case.
“It was Kejriwal who himself delayed joining investigation for the last about six months on one pretext or the other,” the court observed.
The High Court also noted that Mr. Kejriwal is allegedly involved in the offence of money laundering in two capacities.
“Firstly, in his personal capacity as he was involved in formulation of the excise policy and in demanding kickbacks. Secondly, in his capacity as the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party as per Section 70(1) of the PMLA, for use of proceeds of crime of ₹45 crore in the election campaign in the Goa Election, 2022,” it said.
