Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal moved the Delhi high court on Monday, challenging his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the excise policy case.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief also challenged a Delhi court’s June 26 order that sent him to three-day custody.
On Saturday, after Kejriwal’s three-day custody ended, the Delhi court sent him to judicial custody till July 12, saying his name had surfaced as one of the “main conspirators” in the excise policy case.
The agency had sought 14-day judicial custody claiming Arvind Kejriwal didn’t cooperate in the probe and gave evasive replies. The agency said Kejriwal might attempt to influence witnesses.
Arvind Kejriwal, whom the Enforcement Directorate arrested on March 21 in a money-laundering probe linked to the excise policy case, was arrested by the CBI on June 26.
“Considering the fact that the conspiracy alleged against the accused (Kejriwal) involves a large number of persons who were involved in the formulation and implementation of excise policy and also the persons who acted as facilitators in the use of ill-gotten money, I find that there exist sufficient grounds for remanding the accused to judicial custody’,” special judge Sunena Sharma said.
The judge said the agency required custodial interrogation of Kejriwal to “confront him with more material likely to be collected during the investigation”.
The court further said the investigating officer (IO) had pointed out in the case diary that Kejriwal was not cooperative during his custodial interrogation, nor was he truthful in disclosing facts.
“The IO has pointed out certain incriminatory material collected during the investigation for showing that the ill-gotten money was used during the Goa assembly election for making payments towards the expenses of air tickets and hotel booking during the visits of the accused to Goa from June 2021 to February 2022,” the court said.
Arvind Kejriwal and some other AAP leaders are accused of accepting ₹100 crore as kickbacks from a group of businessmen and politicians in return for formulating a favourable liquor policy. The policy was scrapped soon after Delhi’s lieutenant governor ordered a probe into alleged irregularities in granting liquor licenses.
According to the CBI and ED, a significant portion of the alleged kickbacks was diverted for the party’s election campaign in Goa through hawala channels.
With inputs from PTI
