Special Judge Kaveri Baweja passed the remand extension order.
A Delhi court on Thursday extended the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody over Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1 in the money laundering case registered in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja passed the remand extension order.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the ED on allegations that he was the “key conspirator” in the money laundering case registered in the matter.
The arrest took place hours after his plea for interim protection from arrest was rejected by the Delhi High Court.
On March 22, Kejriwal was produced by the ED before judge Baweja, who initially remanded the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader to ED custody till March 28.
After the remand period ended today, the ED sought seven more days of custody over Kejriwal. The Court eventually granted four more days of custody to the ED.
Representing the ED, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju had argued that Kejriwal’s statements to the ED’s questioning has been evasive.
Raju added that Kejriwal was not cooperating with the ED, including by refusing to disclose certain passwords and income tax returns. He reiterated the ED’s claim that laundering money was used to fund the Aam Aadmi Party’s election campaign in Goa.
Notably, Kejriwal personally addressed the Delhi court today and did not oppose the ED’s remand extension request.
“Ham ED ki remand oppose nahi kar rahe. Jitne din chaahe wo mujhe custody m rakh le. Par ye ghotala hai (loose translation: I am not opposing the ED’s plea for remand. They can keep me in custody for as long as they want. But this is all a scam),” Kejriwal said.
Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta also appeared for Kejriwal.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/ed-custody-arvind-kejriwal-extended-tillapril1-delhi-court