Arvind Kejriwal Arrest Update: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been sent to ED custody for 6 days in the Delhi Liquor Policy case. Now ED will present him in the court on Thursday 28th March at 2 pm.
Arvind Kejriwal Arrest Update: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will celebrate Holi this time in ED custody. A Delhi court (Rouse Avenue Court) has sent CM Kejriwal to ED remand till March 28 in the liquor policy case. Now ED will present him in the court on Thursday 28 March 2024 at 2 pm. While presenting the facts against Kejriwal in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Friday, ED said that taking advantage of being the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal helped Aam Aadmi Party in money laundering. AAP is a major beneficiary of the proceeds of crime. ED said that Arvind Kejriwal deliberately disobeyed 9 summons.
Earlier, after arresting Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday night, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) presented him in the Rouse Avenue Court on Friday and sought 10 days’ remand, on which the arguments of both the investigating agency and the defense side. After hearing, the court has reserved its decision. Before appearing in the court, Kejriwal said, “Whether I am in jail or outside, my life is dedicated to serving the country.” Meanwhile, opposition parties on Friday approached the Central Election Commission, calling Kejriwal’s arrest an attack on the democratic process of general elections and sought its intervention in the matter to provide a level playing field to the opposition parties. However, the Election Commission has not yet intervened in this matter.
Kejriwal withdrew the petition from the Supreme Court
A few hours before this, Kejriwal’s lawyers had withdrawn the petition filed in the Supreme Court against the arrest. However, by then the Supreme Court had agreed to hear Kejriwal’s petition on Friday itself. The CJI had also said at 10.45 am that a three-member bench would hear Kejriwal’s petition. But after some time, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Chief Minister, mentioned the matter before the bench led by Justice Sanjeev Khanna and said that he wanted permission to withdraw the petition for hearing the case in the Supreme Court, because the petitioner Will present his side during the hearing of ED’s custody petition in the lower court and after that will again file a petition in the Supreme Court.
Earlier on Friday morning, Kejriwal had made a special mention of this matter before the bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and requested for an early hearing. Singhvi had said that he had to mention an ‘important and urgent’ matter. Singhvi had told the court that, “I am very sad to say that if this process continues, many senior leaders will be behind bars before the first vote is cast in the general elections.”
Kejriwal was arrested on Thursday night
The ED kept Kejriwal in the ED lock-up overnight after arresting him from his official residence on Thursday night in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case. After this, on Friday he was presented in Rouse Avenue Court and asked for 10 days custody. Advocate SV Raju, appearing for the ED, said that Kejriwal is the ‘kingpin’ of the alleged excise scam and the money received from this scam was used in the Goa assembly elections in 2022. This is the first time in the history of independent India that a Chief Minister has been arrested while in office. Despite the arrest, Kejriwal still remains the head of the Delhi Government.
Opposition came to the defense of Kejriwal
All the major opposition parties of the country included in the India Alliance have strongly condemned the arrest of an elected Chief Minister and the head of a political party by a central government agency after the announcement of Lok Sabha elections. The opposition has termed this action taken after the implementation of the election code of conduct in the country as an attempt by the Modi government to murder democracy. Whereas BJP has supported the action taken against Kejriwal and called it an arrest under the law.
Before arresting him, ED had sent summons to Delhi CM a total of 9 times, terming which as ‘illegal’, Kejriwal did not appear before the agency. On Thursday, Kejriwal had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court seeking to stop the ED from his possible arrest. But the High Court did not give him relief. A few hours later, the ED team reached Kejriwal’s official residence and after a brief search and interrogation, he was arrested.
