NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court rejected chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and remand order passed by the trial court in connection with the Delhi .
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Raju said that the court has delivered justice.
The court has declared ED’s arrest valid and said that ED has kept enough evidence against Kejriwal. Kejriwal will approach the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision. A senior AAP minister said Aam Aadmi Party can file a petition in the Supreme Court tomorrow.
In the Delhi liquor scam case, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has made many strict comments while refusing to give relief. Delhi High Court has clearly said that no person, even if he is the CM, can be given special immunity in matters of investigation and inquiry.ED alleges that the money was used for campaigning in Goa. ED has said that the petitioner is involved in this entire matter. Statements of many people including Raghav, Sharat Reddy have been recorded in this case. The High Court said that the approver’s statement is not written by the ED but by the court. If you question him then you are questioning the judge.
The court said the Enforcement Directorate had produced material to suggest that the Aam Aadmi Party leader had conspired to frame the now defunct policy and was involved in demanding alleged bribes of Rs 100 crore, of which Rs. Some was used to finance campaign expenses for the 2022 Goa elections.
The court also took into account the statements given by the ED by the approvers (accused who turned approver) and an AAP Goa candidate, who claimed that he was paid with the alleged bribe. Therefore, Mr. Kejriwal’s arrest was declared valid and his petition was dismissed. Therefore, the court upheld the earlier remand orders. And after being sent to ED custody, he was sent to Tihar Jail in Delhi till 15 April. Mr Kejriwal is the first sitting Chief Minister to be detained.
While reading the verdict, the court did not pay any attention to Mr Kejriwal’s arguments of April 3, in which he had questioned the statements of the approvers. The court said that casting doubt on granting pardon to the accused (in exchange for information implicating other accused) “tantamounts to casting aspersions on the judicial process”. The court said in a stern tone, “This law is more than 100 years old…This is not a one-year-old law wrongly made to trap the petitioner.”
Last week, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi had argued, “…the first statements will have nothing against me. Some are arrested and for the first time, they give statements against me and get bail. Then they get amnesty.” Got it and became a government witness.” However, the Delhi High Court said Mr Kejriwal would have an opportunity to inspect and interrogate all such documents, but at an “appropriate stage”. “…This is not that stage.”
Mr Kejriwal and AAP have alleged that the arrest was made just before the Lok Sabha elections. So that the most senior leaders of the party including the Chief Minister can be sidelined and campaign plans can be disrupted. Singhvi said, “‘Level playing field’ (before the elections) is not just a phrase. It is part of ‘free and fair elections’ which is part of the democratic structure. This case smacks of timing issues. ” He added, “What’s this rush? I’m not talking about politics… I’m talking about the law.”
He argued that the arrests were meant to “eliminate the Aam Aadmi Party before the first phase of the elections”. However, the court said that the investigating agency acted without regard to the election dates. Justice Swarnkant Sharma said, “Political views cannot be brought before the court… The matter before this court is not a matter of conflict between the Central government and Arvind Kejriwal. It is a matter between Arvind Kejriwal and the ED.”

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