Supreme Court To Hear Delhi CM Kejriwal's Challenge Against ED Arrest On April 15

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday (April 15). 

The Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by CM Kejriwal is listed for hearing before the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta. It may be recalled that on April 10, the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea , observing that ED was able to place enough material, statements of approvers and AAP's own candidate stating that Kejriwal was given money for Goa elections. 

The Delhi Chief Minister has challenged the said order of the Delhi High Court bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma before the Top Court. 

While pronouncing the verdict, Justice Sharma had read the following excerpt in open court: "Material collected by ED reveals that Kejriwal conspired and was involved in formulation of excise policy and used proceeds of crime. He is also allegedly involved in personal capacity in formulation of policy and demanding kickbacks and secondly in the capacity of national convenor of AAP". 

It was additionally held that Section 70 of the PMLA (Penalizes offences by companies) was arrayed in the present case. As per the said provision, when a company contravenes PMLA, every person who at the time of the contravention was in charge of conduct of business of the company shall be deemed to be guilty.  The bench rejected the arguments of Kejriwal on the disputed approver's statements, on the ground that the same were recorded before the Court and not the probe agency. 

A Recap Of CM's Arrest & Legal Tussle That Ensued 

The Delhi CM was arrested in the case on March 21, following denial of interim protection by the Delhi High Court. He moved the Supreme Court on the night of his arrest itself, however, this petition was withdrawn the next day as it was clashing with ED's application for remand before the Trial Court. 

Following the arrest, although the remand was resisted, the AAP chief remained in custody. At first, on March 22, the Trial Court remanded him to 6 days' ED custody. Later, the same was extended by 4 days. On April 1, he was remanded to judicial custody till April 15.

ED alleges that Kejriwal was the kingpin and key conspirator of the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy scam and there were reasons to believe on the basis of material in its possession that he was guilty of the offence of money laundering.

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are also accused in the case. While Sisodia continues to remain in jail, Singh was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court pursuant to a concession given by the ED.

In related news, 3 public interest litigations were filed before the Delhi High Court seeking Kejriwal's removal from the post of Delhi Chief Minister.