The hearing of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest and custody in the excise policy money laundering case is currently underway in the Delhi High Court.
The Delhi CM has challenged his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate and subsequent custody in the money laundering case related to the now-scrapped liquor policy.
The matter is being heard by a bench headed by Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.
In his plea, Kejriwal said that the ED has violated his fundamental and human rights and argued that the probe agency has failed to establish guilt of the petitioner.
“The DOE at the time of arrest has failed to establish that Petitioner is guilty of committing activities stipulated under Section 3, i.e., be it one of concealment, possession, acquisition, use of proceeds of crime as much as projecting it as untainted property or claiming it to be so,” Kejriwal’s legal team said in the petition.
The Delhi Chief Minister told the court that he was arrested by the Central probe agency without any questioning, which shows that “the proceedings against him are pre-mediated and political.”
“The fact that the Petitioner was arrested without any interrogation or questioning clearly shows that the present proceedings of arrest are pre-meditated and nothing but an act of political vendetta to skew the balance and level-playing field in the General Election, 2024,” his petition said.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who appeared for the ED, said that the probe agency got a copy of Kejriwal’s plea only yesterday and sought three weeks’ time to file a detailed reply. The ED has also opposed Kejriwal’s bail in the money laundering case.
Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, questioned the “delaying tactics” of the ED and said, “The person has been in jail. On March 23, the petition was filed. Defects were cured later. I am sure Mr Raju does not want us to serve the defective copy to him. Defects were cleared late last night and we shared the petition with him then.”
On this, the bench said that she would give a short date for interim relief and seek a reply from the agency. To this, Singhvi said, “I am asking the ladyship to decide the basis of the remand. That requires no reply from anyone.”
The AAP chief is currently in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate, which will end tomorrow, March 28. He was arrested by the ED last week from his residence in connection with the liquor policy case.