Arvind Kejriwal Arrest: After setback in High Court, AAP hopeful of relief from SC

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has planned to challenge a high court order dismissing his plea in a money laundering case linked to an excise scam. As per AAP sources, he will move to the Supreme Court.

New Delhi: Failing to get any reprieve from the Delhi High Court, the Aam Aadmi Party Tuesday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will move the Supreme Court against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, and maintained the excise police case was the "biggest political conspiracy of the country" to finish the party.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj told a press conference soon after the HC order that they are hopeful the Supreme Court will provide relief to Kejriwal in the same way it granted bail to AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh recently. "We respect the institution of the high court but we respectfully submit that we do not agree with its order and will move the Supreme Court against it," Bharadwaj said.

"The so-called excise policy scam is the biggest political conspiracy to finish off the party and Kejriwal," he alleged. He claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have failed to recover even one rupee of illegal money in the case. "The entire matter is not related to money laundering, rather it's the biggest political conspiracy of the country. It's a conspiracy to crush and finish off Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab," he said.

AAP leader Jasmine Shah, who also addressed the presser, said, "The investigation has been going on for two years but not even a single penny has been recovered. But what happens? You arrest top leaders of a national party and put them in jail as part of a conspiracy." The Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest by the ED on March 21.

"The court is of the view that the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal was not in contravention of legal provisions. The remand cannot be held to be illegal," said Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma while delivering the verdict. Besides his arrest, Kejriwal, who is currently in judicial custody, also challenged his subsequent remand in ED custody.

The matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22. Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency. He was sent to judicial custody on April 1 after he was produced in the trial court on the expiry of his ED custody. He is currently lodged in Tihar jail.