Delhi CM and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday to deliver its judgment on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest and subsequent remand by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) linked to the alleged excise policy scam. A bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna will deliver the verdict on July 12.
The apex court had reserved the verdict on Kejriwal's plea on May 17. During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju had told the apex court that there was evidence of money being sent to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) through hawala channels. Raju had said that ED also discovered chats between Kejriwal and Hawala operators regarding the alleged proceeds of crime in the case.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, had contended that the material being cited by ED now to defend the Chief Minister's arrest was not present during his arrest.
On May 10, the top court granted him interim bail till June 1 in the money laundering case registered by the ED in connection with the Delhi excise policy, however, ordered that he shall not visit the Office of the Chief Minister and the Delhi Secretariat. The bench had asked Kejriwal to surrender on June 2. He surrendered on June 2. The apex court's judgement will come from Kejriwal's appeal against a Delhi High Court judgement which dismissed his plea against arrest by the ED and his subsequent remand in the excise policy case. Kejriwal, while filing an appeal in the apex court had contended that his arrest after the announcement of the General Elections was "motivated by extraneous considerations". On April 9, the High Court dismissed his plea for release from jail and rejected his argument of political vendetta amid the looming Lok Sabha elections.
The High Court had said that Kejriwal's absence from nine ED summons over six months undermined any claims of special privilege as Chief Minister, suggesting his arrest was an inevitable consequence of his non-cooperation. Kejriwal was arrested by ED on March 21 in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-cancelled Delhi excise policy 2021-22.