Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 21: In a swift move circumventing any possible court interference, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday night arrested the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged Delhi Excise policy-linked money laundering case becoming the first sitting chief minister to be arrested in the history of Independent India, officials said.
The arrest just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections came hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to Mr Kejriwal from any coercive action by the agency and his Aam Aadmi Party moved the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing against the Delhi High Court’s refusal to grant him protection against arrest.
Soon after the High Court order, an ED team reached his residence and carried out searches and questioned him and promptly placed him under arrest, officials said. His party said he would continue to hold the post of the chief minister.
Speaking from outside the chief minister’s residence on Thursday, Delhi minister Atishi said, “We are getting reports that the Enforcement Directorate has arrested Mr Kejriwal. His arrest is a conspiracy by the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Since the investigation of this case began two years ago, not one rupee has been recovered by the ED or the CBI despite over 1,000 raids on AAP leaders and ministers.”
“Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election is a conspiracy. Mr Kejriwal is not just a man, he is a thought. If you think arresting one Kejriwal can finish off the thought, you are wrong. Mr Kejriwal is, was and will remain the Delhi chief minister. We have said from the beginning that he will run the government from jail if need be. No law stops him from doing so,” Ms Atishi said in Hindi.
Pointing out that Mr Kejriwal has not been convicted, Ms Atishi said the fight will go on and the party has approached the Supreme Court against his arrest. “Our lawyers are going to the court for urgent mentioning. We will demand that the case be heard tonight itself,” she said.
As fresh developments unfolded through the day, Mr Kejriwal and the AAP moved the Supreme Court against the high court’s order denying him any relief in the matter. The party has moved to the top court for an immediate hearing quashing Mr Kejriwal’s arrest and has requested a hearing tonight itself.
The high court did not grant any protection to Mr Kejriwal from the agency’s action in the case, they said. The Bench listed the AAP leader’s application for further consideration on April 22 when his main petition challenging the summons is fixed for hearing, and asked the Enforcement Directorate to file its response.
Earlier, AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, who reached Mr Kejriwal’s residence soon after the ED team’s arrival, told reporters, “It seems that the ED is carrying out raids. I have not been allowed to go inside. It looks like ED is planning to arrest him.” Reacting to the ED action, AAP MP Raghav Chadha alleged a “big conspiracy” to arrest Mr Kejriwal just before the Lok Sabha elections.
In a series of posts on X, the party said, “ED reached the house of Delhi’s son @ArvindKejriwal! BJP should know that it is trying to move the mountain in whose support the entire country stands today. The people of Delhi are watching everything. No one will sit silent today.”
Using the hashtag #IstandWithKejriwal, it said, “The BJP can stoop down to any level to make Arvind Kejriwal bow down. The people of the country including entire Delhi are standing with their hero Arvind Kejriwal today. This dictatorship of yours will not last. And a Kejriwal will emerge from every house.”
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police detained AAP workers protesting outside the residence of Mr Kejriwal. The Delhi Police had stepped up security and deployed additional personnel around Mr Kejriwal’s residence in Civil Lines, officials said. “The deployment has been made in anticipation of a gathering of AAP workers near his residence,” a police officer said.
Barricades were put up on the lane leading to his official residence in Civil Lines in north Delhi and additional police personnel deployed there, officials said. Officers of the rank of assistant commissioner of police have also been deployed near the Chief Minister’s residence, they said. The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi Government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the case.
Mr Kejriwal’s name has been mentioned multiple times in the charge sheets filed by the ED. The agency has alleged that the accused were in touch with Mr Kejriwal for formulating the excise policy that resulted in undue benefits to them in return for which they paid kickbacks to the AAP. Mr Kejriwal is also facing an ED case in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).