New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Monday dismissed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s challenge to his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the excise policy case.
It could not be said that the “arrest was without any justiciable reason”, the court observed.
The order, passed by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, also rejected Kejriwal’s bail plea, giving him the liberty to approach the trial court for relief.
Arrested in the excise policy case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 21 March, Kejriwal was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on 10 May till 1 June to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. Weeks later, he was granted bail by vacation judge Niyay Bindu, but it was swiftly stayed by the Delhi High Court.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI in the same case on 26 June from Tihar jail, where he was lodged in judicial custody of the ED and being probed for alleged money laundering.
On 12 July, he was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court, while hearing his appeal challenging the validity of his arrest by the ED. It also referred to questions related to the need and necessity to arrest in PMLA cases, to a larger bench. However, Kejriwal remained in jail due to his arrest by the CBI.
Kejriwal had challenged his CBI arrest in the Delhi High Court, calling it an “insurance” arrest to ensure he stayed in prison. His lawyer, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, called the arrest a “sham”.
Singhvi asserted that despite the Supreme Court’s interim bail on 12 July, Kejriwal was “back to square one because of the insurance arrest”. On the other hand, the CBI’s lawyer has called Kejriwal the “sutradhar” of the “entire scam”.
On 29 July, the court reserved the order on his bail plea in the CBI case. During that hearing, the CBI said “the investigation could not have been completed” without Kejriwal’s arrest.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: CBI to file chargesheet against Kejriwal in Delhi excise policy case — a look at the case so far