ED Reaches Kejriwal’s House for Questioning, Delhi CM Moves SC for Urgent Hearing
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 21: In a dramatic development, the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday evening moved Supreme Court against Delhi High Court order denying him protection from coercive action as a team from the Enforcement Directorate reached his North Delhi’s Civil Lines official residence and begun questioning him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
His Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has written an email to the Supreme Court Registry seeking an urgent hearing after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arrest in the liquor policy case,
Sources said the ED team consists of 12 officials and they are inside the residence with a search warrant. The phones of the Aam Aadmi Party chief and his family have been confiscated. As the ED officials carried out their questioning inside the residence, Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force personnel as well as CRPF teams were deployed outside.
Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, who also reached the chief minister’s residence, said, “The way the police are inside and nobody is being allowed in, it seems like a raid is being conducted. It seems they have planned to arrest Arvind Kejriwal.”
The possibility of an imminent arrest, unless the apex court intervened, seemed a possibility considering the stand taken by the ED on Mr Kejriwal’s role in the alleged liquor scam. Soon after the arrest earlier this week of the Telangana Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha, the ED in a press release had called Mr Kejriwal a co-conspirator in the liquor scam. “ED investigation revealed that Ms K Kavitha along with others conspired with the top leaders of AAP including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia for getting favours in the Delhi Excise policy formulation and implementation. In exchange of these favours, she was involved in paying ₹ 100 Crore to the leaders of AAP,” the press note said.
“By the acts of corruption and conspiracy in the formulation and implementation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, a continuous stream of illegal funds in the form of kickback, from the wholesalers was generated for the AAP. Further, Smt K Kavitha and her associates were to recover the proceeds of crime paid in advance to AAP and to further generate profits/proceeds of crime from this entire conspiracy,” it added.
The AAP chief has skipped nine summons issued by the ED in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam. On Monday, he also skipped summons issued by the agency in a money-laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board.
The ED team is questioning the Delhi chief minister less than a week after BRS leader K Kavitha was arrested in the liquor policy case. After her arrest, Mr Kejriwal was, for the first time, named as a conspirator in the case.
Ever since the first summons was issued by the ED in October last year and he was asked to appear on November 2, there has been intense speculation that the Delhi chief minister would be arrested by the agency. Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was arrested in connection with the case in February last year, and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was taken into custody in October.
Earlier on Thursday, the Delhi High Court had declined to give protection from arrest to Mr Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, but had asked the ED to file a reply to his petition. Listing the matter for the next hearing on April 22, a Bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain said, “We have heard both sides, and we are not inclined at this stage (to grant protection). The respondent (ED) is at liberty to file a reply.”
Mr Bharadwaj said the party suspects the police would arrest Mr Kejriwal. Another AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi also strongly condemned the ED move. Sources in the central probe agency said Mr Kejriwal could be arrested tonight.
Atishi said, “Kejriwal wishes to co-operate with the ED investigation. However, our understanding is that ED is not just an investigative agency, but BJP’s political weapon and wants to arrest Kejriwal.” “The people of Delhi consider Arvind Kejriwal their brother. The AAP government has done a lot for them. The people of Delhi stand with him, and will not remain silent,” Atishi told reporters.
Mr Bharadwaj said the police are not allowing anyone to enter Mr Kejriwal’s premises. “… It seems they plan to arrest Mr Kejriwal,” Mr Bharadwaj told reporters. The ED reached Mr Kejriwal’s house hours after the Delhi High Court declined to give protection from arrest to him. The court, however, ordered the ED to reply to Mr Kejriwal’s fresh petition and listed the matter to April 22.
Mr Bharadwaj said the ED’s move to raid Mr Kejriwal’s house is illegal as the high court had asked for the ED’s reply to the fresh petition. “How can the ED enter Arvind Kejriwal’s house or arrest him, even before replying to the high court?” Mr Bharadwaj said.
