Arvind Kejriwal plea to be heard by Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela Trivedi

A special bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela Trivedi will hear the plea by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi Excise Policy case. .The plea was earlier mentioned by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi before Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud seeking urgent listing.The CJI then told Singhvi to mention the matter before the special bench in court 2 headed by Justice Khanna."The matter is of some significance. If this goes on, before the first vote is cast, a lot of senior leaders will be behind the bars. We have sent emails and this happened last night," Singhvi said."A special bench is convening in court 2 led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna. Go before that court now itself. It will be taken up right now," the CJI replied..Singhvi then rushed to court 2, but the special bench which was hearing the plea by Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha had risen by then, and the regular bench of Justice Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta was already in session.When Singhvi mentioned the matter and told the Court about the CJI's directions, Justice Khanna said that the special bench will assemble after the regular bench rises. "Would this matter be listed before our special bench? Someone said from office said that it will be before the three judges," Justice Khanna J said."It was (said) only before court 2," Singhvi said."Is it a writ petition," Justice Khanna asked."Yes," replied Singhvi."Then only three judges. Sanjay Singh (which the regular bench is hearing) is a matter in SLP and not a writ plea. This is confusing...I do not want to break the protocol. Let it come before the special bench. As soon as this bench gets up, we will assemble then," Justice Khanna said. .Kejriwal was earlier refused interim protection from arrest by the Delhi High Court.A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain of the High Court had said that it was not inclined to grant any such protection at this stage.Subsequently, he was arrested by the ED on Thursday after a late night search at his residence..The ED’s money laundering probe stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 17, 2022 in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22. The CBI case was registered on a complaint made by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on July 20, 2022. It has been alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by AAP leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other unidentified and unnamed private persons/entities during the stage of the policy’s formulation.The conspiracy, it has been alleged, stemmed from some of the loopholes “intentionally” left or created in the policy. These were allegedly meant to favour some licensees and conspirators post the tender process.Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh are already behind bars in the case.On March 15, 2024, the ED also arrested the daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samiti legislator and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, K Kavitha in the case.The very same bench of the Supreme Court on Friday refused relief to Kavitha in her plea challenging her arrest.