Following the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam. Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swiftly responded by announcing nationwide protests outside BJP offices.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to review Kejriwal’s petition against his arrest today, following its previous denial of an urgent hearing in his plea against the raids. Meanwhile, the probe agency prepares to present the Chief Minister in an ED court.
The case revolves around accusations of corruption and money laundering linked to the formulation and execution of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, subsequently scrapped. The ED alleges that AAP leaders received kickbacks amounting to ₹100 crore in connection with the excise policy, with Kejriwal’s name recurring in charge sheets filed by the agency. It is asserted that the accused, including Kejriwal, were involved in the policy’s formulation.
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are already in judicial custody in relation to the case.
Kejriwal has notably disregarded eight summonses issued by the ED since November 2 last year, dismissing them as “illegal and politically motivated.”
The ED claims to have uncovered a conspiracy involving political figures such as Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and K Kavitha, the latter arrested the previous week, regarding the Delhi excise policy. Allegedly, a South Group comprising businessmen Sarath Reddy and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, alongside K Kavitha, secured nine zones out of 32 in Delhi under the new excise policy for 2021-22. The policy purportedly included unusually high profit margins, with kickbacks allegedly intended for AAP leaders.
The Enforcement Directorate, investigating a potential money laundering angle in the alleged liquor policy scam, has labeled Kejriwal as a “conspirator.”
The ED team arrived at Kejriwal’s residence last evening with a search warrant after he failed to respond to nine summonses. Subsequently, the Delhi High Court declined to grant him protection from arrest. Kejriwal was arrested around 9 pm following a search and questioning session, taken to the ED office, and spent the night in an ED lock-up after a medical check-up.
Kejriwal’s arrest closely follows the detention of BRS leader K Kavitha in the same case, marking the first time Kejriwal was named as a conspirator following her arrest.
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