Jul 31, 2024 11:55 AM IST
The extension is till August 9 in the CBI case, and August 13 in the ED case.
A Delhi court on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia, BRS legislator K Kavitha, and other accused, in the case related to the national capital’s now-scrapped liquor policy.
The Rouse Avenue Court’s order applies to investigations being conducted by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI; till August 9) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED; till August 13). While Sisodia, a senior leader of the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Kavitha, from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekar Rao, are in custody in connection with the corruption case lodged by the CBI, Kejriwal secured interim bail from the Supreme Court in ED’s money laundering case but remains in custody due to the CBI case against him.
If not extended, their judicial custody would have ended on July 31, i.e. today.
Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, and taken into custody by the ED on March 29. Kavitha, on the other hand, was arrested by the ED on March 15, 2024; on March 21, the agency arrested the Delhi chief minister, who had skipped as many as nine summons.
On May 10, the Supreme Court gave interim bail to the AAP national convenor for the first time; the bail, which was conditional as well, was granted so that he could campaign for the Lok Sabha polls, which were being held at the time.
Kejriwal, the first person to be arrested as a sitting chief minister and who continues to hold the post, surrendered on June 1, as directed by the apex court. On July 12, he got interim bail for the second time, but remains behind the bars.
The CBI has called him ‘sutradhar’ (facilitator) in the alleged excise policy scam, in its fifth and final charge sheet.
Both Kejriwal and AAP have repeatedly dismissed the charges as ‘political vendetta’ of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre.
