The Supreme Court on Monday resumed hearing the petition filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging his arrest and subsequent remand by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy case.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta heard the matter. At the outset, the bench asked Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Kejriwal, that why he did not trail move court for bail.
Singhvi said they have moved against arrest purely on Section 19 PMLA and an application for interim release. The senior counsel argued on similar lines, he did in high court while making a case against Kejriwal's arrest.
Singhvi disputed the statements made by approvers and said Kejriwal was arrested based on some Section 50 PMLA statements, which were made by approvers under questionable circumstances.
He told the ourt that not all statements of Raghav Magunta, Buchi Babu, Sarath Reddy etc. name Kejriwal. He further pointed out that Sarath Reddy did not name Kejriwal in 9 statements, he did that only the 10th statement, and Reddy has purchased electoral bonds for BJP, Singhvi told the bench.
Singhvi also argued that there was no need for Kejriwal's arrest as none of the documents including FIRs, chargesheets, supplementary chargesheets, complaint etc filed between August 2022 till the date of arrest connected the Delhi CM with the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy scam. Kejriwal was not named in the CBI FIR or in the ED Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), Singhvi told bench.
He refuted ED's argument in the affidavit that Kejriwal's non-cooperation to summons was a sufficient ground to his arrest. The ED in its affidavit in the Supreme Court has said that Arvind Kejriwal's conduct led the investigation officer to form the satisfaction that he is guilty of money laundering in the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy scam.
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Singhvi further said that ED went to Kejriwal's house and still no Section 50 statement was recorded. Since, October 2023, ED has been sending summons to Kejriwal and yet they have not filed a section 50 statement.
In the previous hearing the top court had issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate seeking its response to Kejriwal's plea challenging the Delhi High Court order that upheld his arrest by ED as legal.
Last week, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi representing Kejriwal mentioned the case in front of the bench of Justice Khanna and informed the court that the computer-generated case status shows Kejriwal’s plea to be tentatively listed on May 6, despite the court’s direction to list in the week commencing April 29 for further hearing.
Justice Khanna then asked the Singhvi to move an email seeking an urgent listing of the case.
In his rejoinder to the Enforcement Directorate's response, filed before the apex court, Kejriwal has condemned his arrest as politically motivated, arguing that it unfairly advantages the ruling party during the ongoing elections, compromising the principle of "free and fair elections."
Kejriwal has called his arrest in the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy scam a prime example of the Centre's misuse of agencies like the ED to suppress "its “biggest political opponent,” the Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders.
Kejriwal has also called his arrest by the ED as illegal and has submitted in court that the ED “illegally picked up” a sitting Chief Minister five days after the General Elections were notified and the Model Code of Conduct was put in place.
The ED in its affidavit in the Supreme Court has said that Arvind Kejriwal's conduct led the investigation officer to form the satisfaction that he is guilty of money laundering in the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy scam. The probe agency further said that Kejriwal was only arrested after Delhi High Court refused interim relief to him.
ED further states that it is ready to disclose material which formed the basis of arrest. The affidavit filed in top court said that over 170 approx Mobile phones were changed and destroyed by 36 persons during the period of scam.
ED said Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest was devoid of merit and liable to be dismissed. And that the material that formed the basis for satisfaction of the investigating officer for arresting him had been perused by different courts.
Kejriwal is currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody. On April 15, the apex court sought a response from the ED by April 24 on his plea challenging his arrest in a money-laundering case connected to the now scrapped Delhi Liquor Policy.
The Delhi High Court had upheld Kejriwal's arrest as legal. Following which, he approached the Supreme Court. In last hearing Supreme Court issued notice to ED and sought response. Earlier this week, a Delhi court extended Kejriwal's judicial custody till May 7.