A Delhi court on Friday sent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to the Enforcement Directorate’s custody till March 28, a day after his arrest in the Excise policy-linked money laundering case. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja at the Rouse Avenue court said Kejriwal will be produced before the court on March 28 at 2 p.m. The court passed the order on the Enforcement Directorate’s application seeking a 10-day custody in the case.
The ED claimed that Kejriwal “took advantage” of being the Chief Minister of Delhi to facilitate money laundering by the Aam Aadmi Party, which is a “major beneficiary” of the proceeds of crimes generated in the alleged liquor scam case.
“Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of NCT of Delhi is the kingpin and key conspirator of the Delhi Excise scam in collusion with Ministers of Delhi government, AAP leaders and other persons,” the agency informed the special PMLA court while seeking his custody.
The ED, for the first time in the about two-year-old probe, said the AAP was the “major beneficiary of the proceeds of crime generated in the Delhi liquor scam”. It alleged that a part of these proceeds of crime, to the tune of about ₹45 crore in cash, was utilised in the election campaign of AAP in Goa Assembly polls. “In this manner, AAP has committed the offence of money laundering through Sh Arvind Kejriwal and the offences thus are covered by section 70 of the PMLA,” it said.
It said that as the AAP national convenor and member of the national executive, Kejriwal was “ultimately responsible for the funds being used in the election expenses including their generation”. Kejriwal, it alleged, was “not only the brain behind the AAP but also controlled its major activities”.
The agency said Kejriwal “wilfully disobeyed” nine summons issued to him to join this probe and when his statement was recorded under the PMLA on Thursday, he did not “reveal the truth nor gave correct facts”. It said the agency wants his custody to unearth the remaining proceeds of crime generated in the case and that he needs to be interrogated with other accused and witnesses “involved in the kickbacks given by the South Group to the AAP and its leaders.” The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the case.
T.N. Governor re-inducts Ponmudy into Cabinet
Senior DMK leader K. Ponmudy was re-inducted into the Tamil Nadu Cabinet on Friday. Governor R.N. Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Ponmudy, in the presence of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in the Raj Bhavan in Chennai.
Earlier in the day, Ravi approved the recommendation of Stalin to re-induct Ponmudy into the Council of Ministers.
The swearing-in ceremony took place a day after the Supreme Court strongly viewed the action of the Governor to put on hold the induction of Ponmudy into the Council of Ministers over a contention that the apex court’ stay on Ponmudy was merely an interim order.
The Governor’s letter on March 17 to Stalin, refused to appoint Ponmudy on the ground that the Supreme Court had “only suspended, not set aside” his conviction amounted to wilful disobedience of a judicial order. Ponmudy was “tainted by corruption” and that his appointment would be against “constitutional morality”, the Governor had said.
Following his conviction and sentence of three years in a disproportionate assets case, Ponmudy lost his membership in the Assembly and thereby his posting in the Cabinet in December 2023. His Thirukoyilur Assembly constituency was eventually declared vacant.
Ponmudy moved the Supreme Court that granted an interim stay after which the Assembly Speaker withdrew the notification that declared Thirukoyilur as vacant. However, the Governor refused to re-induct Ponmudy into the Cabinet, despite a recommendation by the Chief Minister.
Supreme Court asks K. Kavitha to approach trial court for bail; says cannot take a short-cut to Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea for bail by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA K. Kavitha, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.
A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna advised Kavitha, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, to approach the trial court for bail. The Bench asked the trial court, if an application for bail is filed, to decide it expeditiously.
“Merely because she is a political person or someone who can afford to approach the Supreme Court directly does not mean she can bypass statutory routes. For bail, you have to go through the trial court,” Justice Khanna told Sibal.
The apex court issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a writ petition filed by Kavitha seeking to quash her arrest in the case. The Bench tagged it with other petitions challenging the larger questions regarding ED’s sweeping powers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to raid, summon and arrest persons.
Multiple petitions, including one by Congress leader Karti Chidambaram, seeking a review of the 2022 verdict are pending before Justice Khanna’s Special Bench. Kavitha’s petition has been attached to this batch, which would likely be listed in July 2024.
Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, was remanded in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till March 23 in the case. The BRS leader has urged the court to “quash and set aside the entire action taken by the ED leading to the arrest of the petitioner as the same is wholly non-est; illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional, contrary to the undertaking tendered before this court and also being violative of the postulates of Section 19 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 especially qua a woman.”
The 46-year-old was arrested by the federal anti-money laundering agency from her Banjara Hills residence in Hyderabad on Friday amid protests by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supporters.
The BRS leader has sought the quashing of the arrest memo, the arrest order dated March 15 and the remand order dated March 16 passed by a special judge in a “patently routine and mechanical manner”.
Earlier, in another petition filed in the top court, she challenged the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. On February 28, the top court had extended the protection granted to Kavitha from any coercive action in the case.
The ED had issued summons to the leader on February 21, seeking her presence on February 26. However, Kavitha had not appeared before the central probe agency.
Additional Solicitor-General S.V. Raju, appearing for the ED, had told the apex court that Kavitha had been avoiding summons.
The ED has alleged that Kavitha was a part of liquor cartel ‘South Group’ which paid kickbacks of ₹100 crore to Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in return for favours under the now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.
Kavitha’s arguments had highlighted the restriction placed on police officers under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure against summoning women or questioning them at any place other than their own homes.
She had argued that the ED was using the power to summon persons as an intimidation tactic. Kavitha had maintained that there was no case against her and she was implicated in the case on the basis of statements extracted out of certain persons using coercion.
BJP to go it alone in Odisha
Putting all speculations about reviving alliance with the BJP to rest, the BJP on Friday said it will fight forthcoming elections in all 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in Odisha alone.
“This time, the BJP will contest independently across all 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats, aiming to foster a developed India and Odisha under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The goal is to realise the hopes and aspirations 4.5 crore people of Odisha,” said State BJP president Manmohan Samal on ‘X’.
In a relatively long message, Samal said many welfare schemes of the Modi government were not reaching grassroots for which poor brothers and sisters of Odisha were not benefiting.
“We cannot concur with the State government on many issues, especially Odisha’s identity, Odisha’s pride and interest of people of Odisha,” he said.
“We realise that wherever there are double engine governments in the country, there has been accelerated implementation of development and pro-poor welfare schemes and the State have progressed in every sector,” said Samal.
The State BJP chief, however, expressed gratitude for BJD’s support to the Modi government at centre on many issues of national importance during the past 10 years.
The message was immediately reposted by Dharmendra Pradhan, senior BJP leader and Union Education Minister, validating collapse of alliance talk. Aparajita Sarangi, BJP’s national spokesperson and aspirant for Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat, termed the decision as excellent and said ‘immensely grateful’ in her ‘X’ message.
The clarification has brought to end of a 17-day stalemate over alliance negotiation between BJP and BJD. The potential revival of the alliance between the two parties figured in public discourse after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at a public event in Chandikhole of Jajpur district on March 5. During the address, he spoke highly about legendary leader Biju Patnaik on his 108th birth anniversary. Modi also chose not to criticize the BJD government.
Water storage in India’s key reservoirs is at 38% ahead of summer season
Ahead of the summer season, the live storage capacity in India’s 150 primary reservoirs stands at just 38% of their total capacity, which is less than the last decade’s average for the same period, according to data.
Cities like Bengaluru are already grappling with a shortfall of around 500 million litres of water per day (MLD), against a demand of 2,600 MLD.
Karnataka, among other States, registered lower storage levels as compared to the same period last year, according to the weekly bulletin by the Central Water Commission.
Bengaluru hosts 14,000 borewells with 6,900 of them having dried up. Water bodies have either been encroached upon or have dried up. The city requires 2,600 MLD of water, out of which 1,470 MLD is sourced from the Cauvery River and 650 MLD from borewells, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah had told reporters.
Several other States, including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (two combined projects in both states), and Tamil Nadu, also reported lower storage levels compared to last year.
The total live storage capacity of these 150 reservoirs is 178.784 BCM, which accounts for about 69.35 per cent of the nation’s total live storage capacity estimated at 257.812 billion cubic metres, according to official data.
According to the reservoir storage bulletin on March 21, the live storage available in these reservoirs is 67.591 BCM, representing 38% of their total live storage capacity. The live storage available was 80.557 BCM during the corresponding period last year, with an average of 72.396 BCM over the past decade.
Thus, the current live storage in these 150 reservoirs amounts to 84% of the storage during the same period last year and 93% of the average storage over the past decade.
“The overall storage position in the country is lower than the corresponding period last year and also falls short of the average storage over the past ten years for the same period,” stated the bulletin.
The Southern region, which includes states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (two combined projects in both states), Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, monitors 42 reservoirs with a total live storage capacity of 53.334 BCM.
As of the Reservoir Storage Bulletin dated March 21, the total live storage available in these reservoirs is 12.287 BCM, which is 23% of their total live storage capacity.
This marks a decrease compared to the storage levels during the corresponding period last year (39%) and the average storage over the past ten years (32%).
Thus, the current storage levels in the Southern region are lower than those observed during the same period last year and also fall below the average storage over the past ten years.
Aviation regulator DGCA slaps ₹80 lakh fine on Air India for violations of norms related to flight duty time limitations
Aviation watchdog DGCA on Friday imposed a fine of ₹80 lakh on Air India for violations of norms related to flight duty time limitations and fatigue management system of flight crew.
The decision came after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted a spot audit of Air India in January, during which evidence was collected and fleet-wise random reports were analysed.
“The analysis of reports and evidence revealed that Air India Limited operated flight(s) with both flight crew aged above 60 years flying together in a few instances.
“... the operator was also found deficient in providing adequate weekly rest, adequate rest before & after ultra-long range flights and adequate rest on layover to the flight crew, which violates the extant provisions of the Civil Aviation Requirements pertaining to FDTL,” the regulator said in a release.
Further, the DGCA said there were instances of exceeding duty periods, wrongly marked training records and overlapping duties. On March 1, the regulator issued a show cause notice to Air India with respect to the violations.
“The operator submitted its response to the show cause notice, which was not found satisfactory. Pursuant to the non-satisfactory response submitted by the operator, a fine of ₹80,00,000 has been imposed on the operator,” the release said.
In Brief
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday received Bhutan’s highest civilian award, the ‘Order of the Druk Gyalpo’, the first foreign Head of the Government to receive the honour. The award has been conferred on Prime Minister Modi in recognition of “his outstanding contribution to the growth of India-Bhutan relations and for his distinguished service to the Bhutanese nation and people.” “Honoured to be conferred with ‘Order of the Druk Gyalpo’ Award by Bhutan. I dedicate it to 140 crore Indians,” Modi posted on X soon after.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
