There was sufficient material to come to the conclusion that Arvind Kejriwal was prima facie guilty, the Enforcement Directorate had said in the Rouse Avenue Court, while seeking 10-day custody of the Delhi chief minister
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was remanded in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate by a city court till March 28 late on Friday night.
The verdict by the Rouse Avenue Court came following a hearing during which the Enforcement Directorate said it had concrete evidence that Delhi’s excise policy was changed by the Arvind Kejriwal government to fund the Aam Aadmi Party’s 2022 Goa assembly election campaign.
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Delhi chief minister Kejriwal was produced before the court by the ED, hours after the CM withdrew his plea before the Supreme Court against his arrest.
The AAP convener was produced in the Rouse Avenue court around 2 pm amid tight security on and around the premises.
“There is concrete evidence to show there is a scam and fraud. The excise policy was changed to fund Goa elections for AAP,” SV Raju, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) representing ED, told the court.
Calling Kejriwal the “key conspirator”, the Directorate sought his 10-day custody from the court, which later reserved the order. Zoheb Hossain, the Special Counsel for ED told Special Judge Kaveri Baweja at the that Kejriwal received several crores of rupees as kickbacks from the ‘south group’ for formulating and implementing the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
“There is sufficient material to come to the conclusion that he is prima facie guilty of the offence,” said the ASG. “He is guilty not just in his personal capacity but even vicariously. We have established that money came through kickbacks for Goa elections.”
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ASG Raju also told the court that Kejriwal had requested Rs 100 crore from the accused members of the ‘South Group’ for their participation in the Punjab elections.
According to the law officer, the money trail revealed that the Rs 45 crore “kickback” utilised in the Goa polls came through four hawala networks, adding that the Call Detail Records (CDR) supported the accused’s and witnesses’ allegations.
“We have given an application for 10 days’ remand,” ASG Raju told the court. He said the AAP is not an individual but a company, and every person responsible for the conduct of the company will be held responsible.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, opposed the ED’s plea for remand, contending that statements of witnesses could not be grounds to arrest him because of the pattern it revealed.
“There is a new pattern now. You have a witness, he does not name Kejriwal in statement one or statement two. You then arrest him and oppose his bail vehemently. He then turns approver. And one fine day he gives a brilliant statement,” Singhvi said. “There is no direct evidence except these statements saying I met Mr Kejriwal etc. If people are arrested and pardoned then they will definitely name anyone.”
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- Before the AAP supremo was being taken to the court, he said ‘his life is dedicated to the nation whether he is inside jail or outside jail’.
- This was Kejriwal’s first reaction after being arrested by the ED on Thursday night. The Aam Aadmi Party has called his arrest a “political conspiracy” to stop him from campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls.
- Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal argued before the Rouse Avenue Court that there is no direct evidence (against him). “Without there being any material in possession of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the basis of which Kejriwal can be believed to be guilty of an offence, he is being illegally and arbitrarily arrested by the ED,” Singhvi said.
- Singhvi argued before the top court that “80% of people” involved in the case have not take his (Arvind Kejriwal) name and “82% have not mentioned any dealings” with the Delhi CM.
- Arguing on remand application, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, appearing for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, argued before the court that the the probe agency had the “evidence” then why didn’t they arrest the AAP chief before. “This material was available with you…then why did you not arrest me earlier. Were you waiting for this time to stop me from contesting elections?” Chaudhary said.
- Singhvi requested that please do not look at the remand as a routine. It requires the application of significant judicial mind…there are larger issues of democracy involved, he added.
- Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta appearing for Arvind Kejriwal argues before Rouse Avenue Court that he’s not an accused in “predicate offence and AAP is not an accused in the predicate offence”. “It’s totally an illegal arrest, ” Gupta said. With this, the Delhi CM’s advocates concluded their argument and the ED team began the rebuttal in the court.
- We have ‘concrete evidence’ to show that the excise policy was changed only to fund the Goa Elections claims the agency in the court, ED said.
- Law officer also adds tha Kejriwal was not arrested pursuant to the summons. Even if he had come pursuant to the summons, he would’ve been arrested as a conspirator being vicariously liable by the company which is AAP.
