The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a plea from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and subsequent remand in connection with the Delhi excise policy case on Monday. Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will preside over the hearing.
Arvind Kejriwal has appealed to the top court contesting a Delhi High Court judgment that dismissed his plea on April 9, rejecting his claim of political vendetta amidst the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
As per the Delhi High Court, the probe agency possessed sufficient evidence to justify the arrest, asserting it was a consequence of his non-cooperation with the ED. Despite being summoned nine times in the case, Kejriwal did not appear before the agency.
The 103-page verdict by Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed that the timing of the Chief Minister’s arrest could not be attributed to the central agency.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 in connection with the money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the now-cancelled Delhi excise policy and was remanded to judicial custody until April 15 in the last hearing. He is the first sitting CM to face arrest in the case and is currently detained in Tihar jail.
Apart from Kejriwal, AAP leader Manish Sisodia has been in custody since February last year in connection with the excise policy case. While Sanjay Singh was also arrested in the case, he was recently granted bail.
The case revolves around alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22. The policy aimed to rejuvenate the city’s liquor business by replacing the sales-volume-based regime with a license fee for traders, promising improved stores for customers. However, it was scrapped shortly after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena called for a CBI probe into alleged irregularities.