Supreme Court to hear Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest in Delhi excise policy case today

The Supreme Court on Monday is set to hear Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will be hearing the matter, reported Hindustan Times. The peal will also challenge his subsequent remand in connection with the Delhi excise policy case

According to the Delhi high court, the central investigative agency had sufficient materials to justify the arrest, adding that it was an “inevitable consequence of his non-cooperation” with the ED. 

Before the arrest, Arvind Kejriwal was summoned nine times in the case, but he did not respond to them. The 103-page judgment by the single-judge bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma noted that the central agency could not be blamed for choosing the timing of the chief minister's arrest.

Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 in connection with now-scrapped Delhi excise policy and was sent to judicial custody till April 15 in the last hearing. The ongoing money laundering probe is linked to the alleged discrepancies in the policy.

He is the first sitting CM to be arrested in the case and is currently lodged in Tihar jail. Apart from Arvind Kejriwal, AAP leader Manish Sisodia has been in jail since February last year in the excise policy case. Sanjay Singh was also arrested in the case but he recently got out of jail on bail.

The CBI and ED have alleged that AAP leaders accepted ₹100 crore as kickbacks from a group of politicians and liquor businessmen to grant licenses to them under the excise policy. According to the central agencies, there was an involvement of certain ‘South Group’ in the alleged irregularities.