Arvind Kejriwal personally argues his case before Delhi Court, says ED running extortion racket

Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday argued his case personally before Delhi's Rouse Avenue court in relation to his arrest and remand to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody in the excise policy case..Kejriwal was produced before the Court by the ED since his remand period was expiring today and since the central agency wanted an extension of the same. .Kejriwal argued in Hindi and told Special Judge (PC Act) Kaveri Baweja that the ED's sole mission in the case was to somehow implicate him even though there was no evidence against him."ED ka mission kewal aur kewal mujhe fasana tha (ED's sole mission was to implicate me)," Kejriwal submitted.Pertinently, the CM did not oppose ED's request for further custody. "Hum ED ki remand oppose nahi kar rahe. Jitne din chaahe wo mujhe custody main rakh le. (I am not opposing the remand. ED can keep me in custody as long as they want)," he said.However, he alleged that the real scam was ED running extortion racket in the name of investigation."ED ke do maqsad the. Ek to AAP ko khatam karna.. Ek smokescreen create karna aur uske peechhe extortion racket karna jiske zariye wo paise ikathhe kar rahe hain (ED has two aims. To finish off AAP and to create a smokescreen and run an extortion racket to collect money)," the Delhi CM alleged.Elaborating on the same, he alleged that certain accused had donated money to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after they were arrested, following which they managed to secure bail."Sarath Reddy ne ₹55 crore ka donation BJP ko diya. Mere paas saboot hain ki ye racket chal raha hai. Money trail is established. He donated ₹50 crore to BJP after being arrested [Sarath Chandra Reddy (an accused in the case) donated ₹55 crore to BJP. I have evidence that a racket is running. Money trail is established. He donated 50 crore to BJP after being arrested]," the CM pointed out..He further contended that the only evidence against him was statements made by approvers while the statements that did not name him were not being produced. "Teen statements diye gaye aur unme se court ke saamne sirf wo laaya gaya jisme mujhe fasaya gaya.. kyu? Ye to sahi nahi hai na [Three statements were given (by a witness) but only those were brough on record which were against me. How is this right?]" he demanded.He further asked whether a sitting CM could be arrested solely based on such statements of a few accused turned approvers."Mera naam 4 jagah aaya hai bas. Ek hai C Aravind. Usne bola ki usne meri presence m kuchh documents Sisodia ki diye. Mere ghar roz MLAs aate hain. Kya ye statement kaafi hai ek sitting CM ko arrest karne k liye? (My name is appearing four times. It was said a witness gave me documents in the presence of Manish Sisodia. MLAs come to my house every day. Is such a statement sufficient to implicate me?)" Kejriwal asked. Specifically on one of the witness statements, he added, "Inke 7 statements hue. 6 main mera naam nahi hai. Jaise hi 7th statement m mera naam aata hai use chhod diya jaata hai," (He gave seven statements. Six of them don't name me. In the seventh statement, he takes my name and he is immediately released)." .Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for the ED, said that the agency needs to confront the CM with statements of some more persons. Therefore, further custody of seven day more days would be required, he said. "His statements have been recorded, he gave evasive replies. We need to confront him with some other people. Four more statements of AAP Goa candidates are being recorded. We will need to confront him with them," the ASG argued. .The ASG also submitted that Kejriwal was refusing to share passwords of his accounts with the agency."He has not disclosed the passwords so we do not have access to digital data. He says he will speak to his lawyers and then decide whether the passwords are to be given or not. If he does not we will have to break open the passwords. He is not cooperating deliberately and not giving us the ITRs," the ASG said..The ASG further objected to Kejriwal's contentions, arguing that they were not relevant at the stage of remand. He added that Kejriwal was playing to the gallery. "It is at the stage of production... How are all these things relevant? Whether someone was coerced to give a statement is a matter of trial. He wants to play to the gallery," the ASG said.He went on to submit that witnesses who did not initially take the name of Kejriwal had later explained why they did not do so."People who did not name him earlier justified why they did not name him earlier."He also highlighted allegations that kickbacks received by the AAP were used in Goa elections."AAP received the kickbacks which they used in Goa elections. There is a clear cut chain. We have statements and documents to show that money came through hawala and was used to fund the Goa campaign," the ASG stated.He argued that the ED also has material to show that Kejriwal demanded ₹100 crores."We have material to show that this very person demanded 100 crore kickback," ASG contended.The Court after hearing the parties reserved its order. .Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21. The next day, judge Baweja remanded him to ED custody till March 28. The Delhi High Court on March 27 refused to pass any interim orders in Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest and the trial court remanding him to ED custody. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said she will first consider the ED's reply to Kejriwal's plea and then consider passing any orders. The High Court is scheduled to hear Kejriwal's plea on April 3..The Delhi excise policy case is rooted in a 2022 complaint filed by Delhi's Lieutenant General, VK Saxena alleging irregularities in the framing of the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22.The complaint alleged that a criminal conspiracy had been hatched by leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAM), including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other unidentified and unnamed private persons/ entities at the stage of the excise policy’s formulation.The conspiracy, it was alleged, involved loopholes “intentionally” left or created in the policy. These loopholes were allegedly meant to favour some liquor licensees and conspirators after the tender process.Kejriwal's arrest in the case marked the first instance in India where a sitting Chief Minister was put behind bars. Deputy CM Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh are already behind bars in the same case. On March 15, the ED also arrested the daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samiti legislator and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, K Kavitha in the case..Kejriwal has denied any wrongdoing and has argued that Central government is misusing the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the ED to create a non-level playing field during the upcoming Parliamentary elections.The Central government is trying to skew the electoral process in the favour of the ruling party at the Centre (Bharatiya Janata Party), which controls the ED through the Ministry of Finance, Kejriwal has alleged.