New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the central investigation agency in a corruption case related to the alleged excise policy scam.
The matter was heard by a bench headed by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna and it issued the notice to the CBI seeking a response within 7 days.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor has also challenged a June 26 order of the trial court by which he was remanded in the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) custody for three days.
On June 29, Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody till July 12 in the corruption case by the trial court, which said his name has surfaced as one of the main conspirators and as the investigation is still in progress, his further custodial interrogation may be required.
Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI on June 26 from the Tihar jail, where he was in judicial custody till July 3 in a related money-laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The CBI had claimed before the trial court that the AAP chief did not cooperate with the investigation and deliberately gave evasive replies. The federal agency had also expressed apprehension that Kejriwal might influence witnesses.
While sending Kejriwal to the CBI’s custody for three days on June 26, the trial court refused to declare his arrest illegal, as sought by the defence counsel, saying “The timing may be circumspect but it is not the clear criterion for declaring an arrest illegal”.
“Investigation is the prerogative of the investigating agency, however, there are certain safeguards provided in the law and at this stage, on the material on record, it cannot be said that the arrest is illegal. The agency, however, should not be overzealous,” the trial court had said.
Kejriwal, who was arrested by the ED on March 21, was granted bail by the trial court in the money-laundering case on June 20. However, the trial court’s order was stayed by the high court.
The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution.
According to the CBI and ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to the licence holders.
