IN A massive setback to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed his petition challenging his arrest in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged Excise scam, saying there was no contravention of legal provisions. Besides his arrest, Kejriwal, who is currently in judicial custody in Tihar jail, had also challenged his subsequent remand in Enforcement Directorate’s custody, which the court said was not illegal. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said the Enforcement Directorate was in possession of “enough material” which led to Kejriwal’s arrest, and the trial court remanded him in the custody of the agency by a well-reasoned order. The court is of the view that the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal was not in contravention of legal provisions.

 

The remand can’t be held to be illegal,” said Justice Sharma while delivering the verdict. She read out the judgement for 25 minutes and also explained certain portions of her decision in Hindi. The court clarified that it was not dealing with Kejriwal’s bail plea but his writ petition challenging the arrest on certain grounds. It emphasised that law applied equally to all and courts were concerned with constitutional morality and not political morality, apparently referring to Kejriwal and his AAP claiming that he was arrested to put his party’s LS poll campain in jeopardy. AAP says it is hopeful of relief from SC: FAILING to get any reprieve from the Delhi HC, the Aam Aadmi Party Tuesday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will move the Supreme Court against his arrest by the ED, and maintained the Excise Police case was the “biggest political conspiracy of the country” to finish the party.

 

Senior AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj told a press conference soon after the HC order that they are hopeful the Supreme Court will provide relief to Kejriwal in the same way it granted bail to AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh recently. “We respect the institution of the high court but we respectfully submit that we do not agree with its order and will move the Supreme Court against it,” Bharadwaj said. “The so-called Excise Policy scam is the biggest political conspiracy to finish off the party and Kejriwal,” he alleged. He claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have failed to recover even one rupee of illegal money in the case. “The entire matter is not related to money laundering, rather it’s the biggest political conspiracy of the country. It’s a conspiracy to crush and finish off Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab,” he said. AAP leader Jasmine Shah, who also addressed the presser, said, “The investigation has been going on for two years but not even a single penny has been recovered. But what happens? You arrest top leaders of a national party and put them in jail as part of a conspiracy.”