Kejriwal arrested in excise policy case, Section 144 imposed
Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of India's capital New Delhi and Aam Aadmi Party (UP) chief, has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a case related to Delhi's excise policy.
He was reportedly arrested after his phone was confiscated. Meanwhile, Section 144 has been imposed around the Chief Minister's residence. Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi said that Kejriwal will be the Chief Minister of Delhi.
Earlier, ED operatives raided Kejriwal's house. NDTV reported that before the arrest, Kejriwal was interrogated by the ED at his home in a case related to excise policy.
An ED team reportedly reached Kejriwal's house within hours of the Delhi High Court withdrawing his defense in the excise case.
According to sources, a team of 12 ED officials went to the Delhi Chief Minister's house. They entered Kejriwal's house after showing the necessary documents for the search operation. Delhi Police has been deployed in front of his house. Security has also been tightened. It is said that no one is allowed to enter the house during the search operation.
ED had sent summons to AAP chief 9 times in the Delhi Excise case. But he missed the attendance 8 times. The Delhi Chief Minister was scheduled to appear at the ED office on Thursday (March 21), according to the latest summons. But Kejriwal approached the High Court without appearing.
Kejriwal said in the petition submitted to the court, "ED should give an assurance that no strict action will be taken against me if I respond to their summons."
App's complaint is that the purpose of ED is not interrogation. Even for so long they have not found any evidence against Kejriwal in this case. So the agency is trying to arrest him by sending summons before the Lok Sabha elections.
A division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kaith and Justice Manoj Jain heard the case on Kejriwal's plea on Thursday.
After the hearing, the division bench said, "We have heard the arguments of both sides. But we are not promising any protection to the litigant at this stage.”
After this verdict, the ED took action. However, till the writing of this report, no response has been received from AAP regarding the search operation.
It is to be noted that the ED has arrested BRS leader K Kavita a few days ago in the excise case. Currently, he is in ED custody on the orders of the court. Apart from Kavita, two senior AAP leaders Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh have been arrested so far in this case.
Earlier there were allegations that the Delhi government's 2021-22 excise policy had favored several liquor traders. Those who were bribed to enact this policy were given benefits. The AAP government has always denied the allegations.