Apr 30, 2024 05:12 PM IST
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21, weeks before the Lok Sabha elections.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyer’s question regarding the timing of the AAP chief’s arrest.
Hearing a plea by Arvind Kejriwal against his arrest in the Delhi excise policy case, the apex court observed that liberty is “very exceedingly important”. It asked ED’s lawyer to respond the query as to why he was arrested just before the Lok Sabha elections.
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Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21.
“Liberty is very exceedingly important, you can’t deny that. The last question is with regard to the timing of the arrest, which they (Arvind Kejriwal‘s lawyer) have pointed out, the timing of the arrest, soon before the general elections,” Justice Sanjiv Khanna told ASG SV Raju.
The court has asked the agency to come prepared with the response on Friday afternoon.
Earlier this month, the Delhi high court upheld Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, saying the agency had no other option as the former was not joining the probe.
Before the court’s observation, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Arvind Kejriwal today, said MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy (MSR) was forced to make a statement against the Delhi chief minister in lieu of bail to his son Raghav, reported Live Law.
He said MSR broke down due to his son’s continuous incarceration and gave a statement to implicate Arvind Kejriwal.
Singhvi claimed MSR contradicted his earlier statement, and the very next day, Raghav was granted bail.
Singhvi pointed out that Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Vijay Nair was accused of receiving kickbacks. He was arrested in November 2022. Kejriwal was arrested in March 2024. “No explanation for not arresting during this time,” he said.
“Raghav initially made no allegation…his wife attempted suicide. He sought interim bail, and the special judge dismissed. His maternal grandmother fell, was in the ICU. The Delhi high court granted him interim bail. ED challenged it,” Singhvi said, per the website.
He said after Raghav’s father made the statement, the Enforcement Directorate refused to object to his bail.
“Please read between lines…Farce is going on as far as approvership is concerned,” Singhvi added.
The Enforcement Directorate has accused AAP leaders of receiving ₹100 crore as kickbacks from a group of politicians and businessmen — called South Group — for making the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy favourable to their business interests.
On Monday, Kejriwal’s lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the former ignoring the agency’s summonses can’t be a ground necessitating his arrest. He said the agency had no material required to take away his liberty.
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“You (ED) have to demonstrate the necessity of arrest based on material available with the investigating agency,” Singhvi said.
“ED’s power to arrest is not an obligation to arrest. There must be a reason to believe, there has to be some new material or a link that connects Kejriwal directly or something. They arrested him (Kejriwal) after the model code of conduct was in place. He was neither accused nor suspect till March 2024,” he added.
With inputs from agencies
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