The ED had sought a seven-day extension for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Delhi High Courts granted so.
New Delhi: ED while seeking remand, stated that data on one mobile phone (belonging to the arrestee’s wife) has been extracted and is being analyzed. However, data from the other 4 digital devices seized during the search at Arvind Kejriwal’s premises on March 21, 2024 (belonging to the arrestee himself) is yet to be extracted as the arrestee has sought time to provide password and login credentials after consulting with his lawyers.
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) sought a seven-day extension of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s custodial remand at the Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. The court has reserved its order. The ED moved a remand application stating that they require Kejriwal’s further custodial interrogation to confront him with some other people.
The statements of some Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Goa candidates are being recorded, the ED said.
The ED, represented by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, further submitted that Kejriwal’s statements have been recorded, to which he gave evasive replies. He is deliberately not cooperating with us, the ASG said.
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The ED showed the statement recorded during custodial interrogation to the court. SV Raju said before the court that during custody, Kejriwal did not disclose any password and hence it does not have access to digital data.
The Delhi Chief Minister also made a statement before the Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday.
“CBI lodged an FIR on August 17, 2022; ED lodged an ECIR on August 22, 2022…,” Kejriwal said.
“I was arrested, but no court has proven me guilty yet. CBI filed 31,000 pages and ED has filed 25,000 pages related to this matter. Even if you read them together, I would like to ask why I have been arrested. My name came to light only in four statements by four people,” the Chief Minister said.
“Are these four statements made by different people sufficient to arrest a sitting Chief Minister?” he asked.
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CM Arvind Kejriwal referred to the statements of C. Arvind, Raghav Magunta, his father and Sharath Reddy. Kejriwal alleged that people are being turned approvers in the case and people are being forced to change their statements. He claimed that there was a political conspiracy behind his arrest.
(With inputs from agencies)
