A Delhi court on Saturday remanded Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody for 14 days, until July 12, in connection with corruption allegations related to the 2021-22 excise policy.
At the time of his arrest, Kejriwal was already in custody for a money laundering case tied to the alleged excise policy scam under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhary, representing Kejriwal, informed the court that the investigation has been ongoing since 2022.
“Kejriwal was arrested in March 2024. He was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court. On the last date of the hearing, they (CBI) had said that they collected evidence in January, they said that they had in April obtained the sanctions. They also said that they had not arrested me earlier because they did not want to overreach the Supreme Court,” Chaudhary told the court. Chaudhary also requested that the court direct the CBI to present all material evidence.
“They (CBI) have also made a statement before the Supreme Court that they will conclude the investigation by July 3…I am praying please ask the IO (Investigation officer) that whatever they are saying, your lordships may pin them down,” he added.
The CBI has filed four charge sheets in the case against 17 accused individuals, including Manish Sisodia and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha. Kejriwal has not been named in any of the indictments yet. The CBI alleges that out of ₹100 crore received by AAP as kickbacks, ₹44.45 crore was transferred to Goa from June 2021 to January 2022 through ‘hawala channels’ for election campaign purposes.