Delhi High Court to hear Arvind Kejriwal’s petition against arrest today

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by ED on Thursday night

New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court will hear Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s challenge to his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week and the trial court’s order remanding him to the agency’s custody for a week.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma will hear the case at 10.30 am today. The petition challenging the arrest of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader was filed on April 23, two days after he was arrested in a money laundering case related to Delhi’s now-defunct GST policy.

A day after his arrest, Mr Kejriwal approached the Supreme Court seeking relief. However, he later withdrew the petition and his lawyer, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, said they would challenge the remand proceedings in the trial court and return to the Supreme Court with another petition. court.

He was later taken to Louth Avenue Court where he was remanded in custody for a week.

The ED’s money laundering case is based on a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2022 over alleged liquor policy violations.

The CBI case was registered on a complaint by Delhi Centre-appointed Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, alleging that senior AAP leaders had deliberately left loopholes in the policy to favor certain licensees.

The ED said Mr Kejriwal was a key co-conspirator in the case. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh and Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Opposition leaders have denied the allegations and accused the BJP-led central government of using investigative agencies like ED and CBI for political motives.

The AAP also hit out at the BJP over the timing of the arrest, claiming it was trying to prevent Mr Kejriwal from campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party, which is in power in Delhi, insists Kejriwal will continue as chief minister. AAP ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj said the chief minister was issuing orders from the ED’s detention center and assured Delhi residents that the chief minister was always thinking about their welfare.