Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has approached the Delhi High Court challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy case and a remand order subsequently passed by a trial court.
Kejriwal’s legal team confirmed the development to Bar & Bench.
Though a request had been made for an urgent hearing of the Chief Minister’s case, it was not permitted.
The case is likely to be heard only on March 27 as the High Court is shut due to Holi holidays on Monday and Tuesday next week.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21. On March 22, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court remanded him to ED custody till March 28.
The ED has claimed that Kejriwal was a key conspirator in the Delhi Excise Policy scam case.
The ED’s money laundering probe in the matter stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 17, 2022 in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22.
The CBI case was registered on a complaint made by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on July 20, 2022.
It has been alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by AAP leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other unidentified and unnamed private persons/ entities at the stage of the policy’s formulation.
The conspiracy, it has been alleged, involved loopholes “intentionally” left or created in the policy. These loopholes were allegedly meant to favour some liquor licensees and conspirators post the tender process.
Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh are already behind bars in the case.
On March 15, 2024, the ED also arrested the daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samiti legislator and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, K Kavitha in the case.