New Delhi: There was no relief for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the courts Monday as he was sent to 15 days in judicial custody as an accused in the ongoing excise policy case.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested the Aam Aadmi Party leader on 21 March in a money-laundering case tied to the now-scrapped excise policy of 2021-2022. The agency kept him in its custody for the past 10 days.
On Monday, the probe agency sought Kejriwal’s judicial custody till 15 April, telling the Rouse Avenue court that the chief minister had been “totally uncooperative” during interrogation.
The Delhi chief minister had skipped nine ED summons before his arrest in March, calling them “illegal”. The ED then filed two criminal complaints against Kejriwal in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court alleging non-compliance. The chief minister was arrested after the Delhi High Court declined any interim relief to him.
Two senior AAP leaders, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, are already in custody in the liquor policy case.
The central agency had told the trial court that Kejriwal was the “kingpin and key conspirator of the Delhi excise policy scam who generated and used proceeds of crime in the Goa election”.
The agency said Kejriwal — as the chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a member of its political affairs committee and national executive — was “ultimately responsible for the funds being used in the election expenses, including their generation” and thus was “guilty of this conspiracy”.
The ED said the liquor policy was drafted to favour the “South Group” and was formed in collusion with (former AAP communications in-charge) Vijay Nair, (Delhi deputy CM) Manish Sisodia and representatives of the “South Group”.
The agency has identified the members of the “South Group” as arrested BRS leader K. Kavitha, YSRCP MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, his son Raghav Reddy and the director of Aurobindo Pharma, P. Sarath Reddy. Kavitha is also in custody.
ED sources also said Kejriwal not only demanded bribes but tweaked a Group of Ministers’ (GoM) report to favour this Group, and used Rs 45 crore allegedly given to the AAP in cash and through hawala in the 2022 Goa elections.
Agency sources told ThePrint earlier that they have “sufficient proof” and “statements of other accused” to establish the AAP leader asked for Rs 100 crore from Kavitha in exchange for benefits in the liquor trade in the capital.
The ED’s money-laundering probe is based on a case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed in 2022 that alleged irregularities in the liquor policy. Kejriwal’s name has been mentioned multiple times in the charge sheets filed by the ED.
Meanwhile, opposition bloc INDIA, of which the AAP is a constituent, has mobilised against the arrests of Kejriwal and former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren. Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita Kejriwal, joined top party leaders at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan Sunday to protest the arrest and demand his immediate release.
Also read: In pictures: At INDIA bloc’s ‘Save Democracy’ rally, camaraderie & show of support for Kejriwal