The Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday strongly denied the allegation that his party received funds from a South based group at the time of Goa election and stated that there exists “no proof or material” in this regard.

In his response to the affidavit filed by the Directorate of Enforcement in the Supreme Court, the incarcerated Chief Minister Kejriwal has said, “There exists no proof or material demonstrating that the AAP received funds or advanced kickbacks from the South group, let alone utilising them in the Goa election campaign. Not a single rupee was traced back to the AAP, and the allegations put forth in this regard are devoid of any tangible evidence, rendering them vague, baseless without any corroboration.”

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The Chief Minister Kejriwal said this in response to the reply filed by the Enforcement Directorate on April 25, 2024, opposing the Aam Aadmi Party leader’s plea challenging his arrest and subsequent remand in the alleged Delhi Excise Policy Scam. The Supreme Court had issued notice and sought rep.ly from the Enforcement Directorate on April 15, 2024, on Kejriwal’s plea

Stating that the Enforcement Directorate was abusing its power of arrest in the middle of general election, Kejriwal has said that the mode, manner and timing of his arrest just before the announcement of the Lok Sabha election by the Election Commission and the Model Code of Conduct had come into force, speaks volumes about the “arbitrariness” of the central agency.

“This timeline establishes the fact that Kejriwal has been arrested intentionally with a malafide intent without any necessity to arrest,” states the rejoinder affidavit by the Chief Minister. The Aam Aadmi Party leader has further stated that the present case is a “classic case” of how the Bharatiya Janata Party led Central government has misused the central agency- ED – and its wide powers under PMLA to crush its biggest political opponent -Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders.

Kejriwal has further said that there is a glaring absence of material indicating his involvement in any criminal activity relating to the alleged predicate offence whether it be concealment, possession, acquisition, or utilisation of proceeds of crime to attract the vice of Section 3 PMLA.

The AAP leader has said that the Enforcement Directorate illegally ‘picked up’ a sitting Chief Minister and the National Convenor of the one of the six national opposition parties in India on March 21, 2024, that is, five days after the general elections were called and the Model Code of Conduct was put in place. The affidavit further stated. The AAP is in direct opposition to the ruling political party at the Centre in the on-going general elections and voting has already commenced from April 17.

Stating that his arrest has caused grave prejudice to the Aam Aadmi Party and disturbed the level playing field – a pre-requisite in any election -, Kejriwal in his rejoinder affidavit has said it (his arrest) will provide the ruling party at the Centre an unjust upper hand in the on-going elections.

“A level playing field- which is a pre-requisite for ‘free and fair elections’- has clearly been compromised with the illegal arrest of the Petitioner,” rejoinder affidavit reads.

Stating that he has always co-operated with the investigation and referring to various top court judgments holding that non-cooperation does not mean that the person be arrested, Kejriwal in his rejoinder affidavit has said that the Enforcement Directorate has attributed the alleged “large scale destruction of evidence” as a ground to arrest him.

“There is not even a single averment alleging the destruction of evidence of any kind by Kejriwal and hence the said ground is devoid of any merit”, says the rejoinder further asserting, “Moreover, the Respondent (ED) being devoid of any cogent reason, is now raising frivolous and fictitious grounds for justifying the illegal arrest of the Petitioner (Kejriwal).”

Kejriwal has approached the top court challenging the Delhi High Court’s April 9, 2024, order rejecting his plea against his arrest by the ED and the subsequent remand. The top court had asked the Enforcement Directorate to respond to Kejriwal’s plea and posted the matter for hearing in the week commencing from April 29, 2024.

Kejriwal in his plea against the High Court order has contended that his arrest after announcement of the General Elections is “motivated by extraneous considerations”. Describing his arrest as “motivated”, Kejriwal has contended that a sitting Chief Minister has been arrested in the middle of election cycle and especially after the announcement of the schedule of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The petition by Kejriwal against the High Court order says that the statements and material relied upon by the ED against him was in its possession for the last niner months but why it acted when general elections were on.

These statements relied upon as grounds of arrest were recorded by the ED from December 7, 2022, till July 27, 2023 and subsequently no further material has been collected against Kejriwal, states the petition.

“Moreover, such statements and material were in possession of the Enforcement Directorate for the last nine months and still the arrest has been made illegally in the middle of general election 2024”, says the petition by Kejriwal.

The petition says that Kejriwal’s arrest also constitutes an “unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy” based on “free and fair elections” and “federalism”, both of which form significant constituents of the basic structure of the Constitution.