Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will continue to remain in jail after the Supreme Court on Monday refused an urgent hearing of a petition against his arrest on corruption charges linked to the alleged liquor policy scam.
The court sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) by April 24 and said the matter would be heard in the week commencing April 29.
The decision by the two-judge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta came as it was hearing the plea today.
The 14-day judicial custody of the Chief Minister, who is currently lodged at the Tihar Jail, ended today. It has now been extended till April 23.
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Kejriwal moved the Supreme Court on April 10, a day after the Delhi High Court had dismissed his petition, saying that he had “conspired with others” in the case.
At the Supreme Court, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for the Delhi Chief Minister, said that Kejriwal’s “arrest and remand were based on an unreliable document supressed from us”.
The AAP national convenor’s petition also states that his arrest was made “in a motivated manner” and was solely based on subsequent, contradictory and “highly belated statements of co-accused” who have now turned approvers.
It has sought his release and to declare the arrest “illegal”.
While dismissing Kejriwal’s plea on April 9, the Delhi High Court had also said that he was “actively involved in using the proceeds of crime”, according to materials provided by the Enforcement Directorate.
The court further said that he was involved in a personal capacity in the formulation of the now-scrapped liquor policy and demanding kickbacks, and as the national convenor of AAP, he participated in activities linked to the scandal.
The matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.
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Arvind 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.
(With inputs from PTI)