NEW DELHI, 23 Mar: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal moved the high court on Saturday, challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, but the court is unlikely to grant an urgent hearing.
According to highly-placed sources in the court, the plea is unlikely to be heard before 27 March as the court is closed for Holi.
Lawyers of Kejriwal, the sources said, have requested that the matter be listed for hearing on Sunday since the custody of a constitutional functionary by a central agency has been challenged.
The petitioner is a chief minister and therefore seeks an urgent hearing from the court, the sources said.
“It is requested that the matter be listed on 24 March since the custody of a constitutional functionary by an agency of the central government is challenged. The present writ petition also raises an issue of liberty and exercise of arbitrary powers by a central agency in a federal set up in the midst of the general election 2024,” the plea says, according to the sources.
On Friday, a trial court remanded Kejriwal in the ED’s custody till 28 March “for his detailed and sustained interrogation.”
In his plea, Kejriwal, who was arrested by the ED in the evening of 21 March, has contended that his arrest and remand are illegal and that he is entitled to be released from custody immediately.
The ED arrested Kejriwal hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader had earlier approached the court for quashing and setting aside all proceedings, including summonses, issued against him.
In that petition, Kejriwal said that he is a “vocal critic” of the ruling BJP at the Centre, an opposition leader and a partner in the INDIA bloc, and the ED, being under the union government’s control, has been “weaponised.”
The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 that was later scrapped.
Top AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the case.
Kejriwal’s name has been mentioned multiple times in the chargesheets filed by the ED.
The agency has alleged that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal for formulating the excise policy that resulted in undue benefits to them in return for which they paid kickbacks to the AAP. (PTI)
