On Friday, the Delhi Court remanded Arvind Kejriwal to six days of Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till March 28 in connection to an alleged liquor policy scam case.
Arvind Kejriwal’s Arrest
Kejriwal was arrested on Thursday by the central probe agency under the Protection of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, hours after the Delhi High Court refused to pass an order granting him interim protection from the coercive act. A team of 12 officials rushed to the residence of three times Chief Minister (CM), questioned him for two hours, and seized documents and other materials, before arresting him.
Earlier, ED had filed two criminal complaints against Delhi’s CM, alleging non-compliance with their summons by him. He had skipped seven summons, calling them illegal.
Arvind Kejriwal is the first sitting Chief Minister to be arrested in independent India. He denied all charges against him and said that he would run the government from jail. After the arrest, He told the media, “My life is dedicated to the nation.”
ED’s Allegations
In Friday’s hearing, ED alleged Kejriwal is the ‘kingpin’ of the alleged scam and is directly involved. At the time of the search, ED claimed Kejriwal did not give the correct details. The agency said Kejrival is directly involved in the total proceed of the scam, it alleged Rs 100 crore were paid by the ‘south group’.
ED also claimed that Bharat Rashtra Samtha leader K Kavitha was involved in the scam, and got arrested last week. AAP leaders, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia have also been arrested related to a liquor scam case, last year.
“Confrontation is required. We need to recover the money trail. It is a fit case to grant remand,” said ASG.
Kejriwal withdraws the Supreme Court Plea
Abhishek Singhvi along with two other senior counsels, appeared for Kejriwal. Sanghvi said ED failed to show ‘necessity’ to arrest the CM of Delhi and claimed, “There is no direct evidence.”
“We are withdrawing the petition from the Supreme Court as it is clashing with remand. We will argue remand and come back here,” said Sanghvi.
Opposition Leaders Reaction
Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi said, “A scared dictator wants to create a dead democracy.” Priyanka Gandhi called the incident shameful, and stated, “Such a shameful scene is being seen for the first time in the independent history of India.”
Tamil Nadu CM, MK Stalin said, “Ahead of Elections 2024, driven by fear of a decade of failures and the imminent defeat, the Fascist BJP government sinks to despicable depths.”
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