Arvind Kejriwal arrested: Why has ED cracked down on the Delhi CM?

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Thursday arrested by officials of the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the excise policy case. The development came hours after the Delhi High Court denied protection from coercive action by authorities in the case. A team of Enforcement Directorate officials arrived at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Civil Lines residence to question him. He was later arrested.

The development comes after Kejriwal refused to comply with eight summonses issued by the probe agency asking him to appear before it for questioning. Kejriwal moved court challenging two orders summoning him in the criminal complaints filed by ED. The High Court, however, denied him relief. “The request for stay has been declined. For exemption, you can move the trial court,” the court said in its order.

The case against Arvind Kejriwal

The case against Kejriwal stems from the scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22. According to the ED, the excise policy was implemented as part of a conspiracy to give wholesale business profit of 12 percent to certain private companies, although such a stipulation was not mentioned in the minutes of meetings of Group of Ministers (GoM).

The agency has further alleged a conspiracy coordinated by Vijay Nair and other individuals along with a certain ‘South Group’ to give extraordinary profit margins to wholesalers. ED claims that Nair was acting on behalf of CM Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia.

There are two complaints filed by the ED against Kejriwal for non-compliance of its summons so far. The ED has issued nine summonses. Kejriwal has not appeqared before the agency for questioning even once.

Kejriwal has skipped the summons, claiming that they are illegal, and said that the action against him is part of the BJP’s conspiracy to weaken him ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. However, he informed ED recently that he could be questioned via a videoconferencing link after March 12.

Last week, Kejriwal was granted bail by the ACMM court after he appeared before it. That matter has been listed for hearing on April 1.

Kejriwal is the fourth prominent Aam Aadmi Party leader — the third in the Delhi excise policy case — to face coercive action by the Enforcement Directorate. Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh were arrested by ED earlier in connection with the case and are currently in judicial custody. Satyendar Jain, on the other hand, is also in judicial custody in a separate money-laundering case.