Delhi HC to hear Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against ED arrest tomorrow

The Delhi high court will on Wednesday hear chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged irregularities in Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
The petition will be heard by a bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.
The plea claims that Kejriwal’s arrest and remand is illegal.
The petition was listed three days after the Delhi high court refused to pay heed to the request by lawyer for the CM to urgently hear his petition on Sunday.
In his petition filed on Saturday, Kejriwal, according to his legal team, argued that the arrest violated his fundamental rights, since no case has been made out against him.
“The present writ petition also raises an issue of liberty and exercise of arbitrary powers by a central agency in a federal setup in the midst of General Election, 2024,” Kejriwal’s petition in court contended.
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On Friday, Abhishek Singhvi, one of Kejriwal’s lawyers, while challenging the agency’s remand application had contended that there was no direct evidence tying the chief minister to any wrongdoing.
“There was no justification for arresting Kejriwal now when ED felt compelled to cite certain statements recorded in 2021-22,” said Singhvi, adding that there is no criminal conspiracy of any nature which can be attributed to the CM.
However, the probe agency called Kejriwal the “kingpin” behind alleged money laundering related to the policy, saying he formulated rules to favor certain liquor businesses in exchange for kickbacks that were used to fund his Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) election campaigning.
The agency told the Rouse Avenue court that Kejriwal is “vicariously liable” for the offences committed by the party, while claiming that AAP used his position to utilise proceeds of crime worth about ₹45 crore from the alleged kickbacks in AAP’s election campaign in Goa in 2022.
The chief minister was arrested on Thursday night after questioning at his home by the ED, which is investigating purported violations in Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
His arrest came hours after the high court rejected his request for interim protection from arrest.