Delhi court sends Arvind Kejriwal to CBI custody for three days in Excise Policy case

A Delhi court on Wednesday sent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody for three days in the excise policy case..Judge Amitabh Rawat of the Delhi Rouse Avenue Court passed the order after hearing both the CBI and Kejriwal at length. .The CBI had earlier today formally arrested Kejriwal after judge Rawat declined to interfere with the probe.The CBI then sought custody of Kejriwal for five days.During the hearing today, Kejriwal addressed the Court in person and maintained that he and other AAP leaders including Manish Sisodia who have been implicated in the case, are innocent.He also rebutted the CBI's claim that Kejriwal had shifted the entire blame on Manish Sisodia."Maine aesa koi bayan nahi diya hai ki Manish Sisodia doshi hai. Manish Sisodia nirdosh hai, AAP nirdosh hai, main nirdosh hu. Unka saara plan hai hame media main badnaam karne ka. CBI k sources n chalwaya... Inke saare aarop jhhute hain (I have never testified that Manish Sisodia is guilty. Manish Sisodia is innocent, AAP is innocent, I am innocent. Their aim is to malign us through media. CBI has activated its 'sources'. All their claims are false)," he said.He alleged that the CBI's objective is to ensure that media headlines are manipulated to reflect that Kejriwal has put the entire blame on Sisodia.The Court too agreed with Kejriwal and said that Kejriwal had not stated what the CBI was attributing to him."Apki statement maine padh li hai, aapne aesa nahi kaha hai (I read your statement. You have not said what CBI has claimed (on Sisodia)," the judge orally said. .BackgroundKejriwal was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, 2024, in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.Kejriwal is accused of being a key conspirator in a plot to intentionally leave loopholes in the liquor policy to benefit certain liquor sellers.The ED had alleged that the kickbacks received for leaving behind these loopholes were used by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to fund its elections in Goa.The ED's case had stemmed from a case registered by the CBI on a complaint by Delhi Lieutenant Governor, VK Saxena.Kejriwal remained in jail after his March 21 arrest by the ED, until a May 10 order by the Supreme Court allowing him interim bail to campaign for the now-concluded Lok Sabha elections. He returned to jail on June 2 and remained in prison since then.Kejriwal was in judicial custody at Tihar jail when the CBI took a statement from him earlier this week with the court's permission.He was produced before the trial court this morning when the CBI sought permission to formally arrest him.After a brief hearing before a Delhi trial court, the CBI formally arrested Kejriwal in the case earlier today, following which the court was informed of the grounds of his arrest..The CBI then moved the Rouse Avenue court for his custody. .Remand hearing arguments .The CBI's counsel today said that custodial interrogation of Kejriwal was necessary for the central agency's probe into the alleged irregularities in the framing of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy of 2021-22.Representing the CBI, advocate DP Singh said,"We (CBI) need his (Kejriwal's) custodial interrogation... He (Kejriwal) pushed the entire onus on Manish Sisodia and said he has no idea about the excise policy. We need to confront him with documents that we have... We are not asking him to admit to something."Singh added that Kejriwal has not been forthcoming so far in his answers to the CBI's queries made prior to his formal arrest earlier today.The CBI counsel also justified the timing of Kejriwal's arrest by the central agency, in response to a query by the court.Meanwhile, the CBI's actions were vehemently objected to by Kejriwal's counsel.Representing Kejriwal, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari asked whether there was any necessity to make the arrest at all."Many years back, Justice Krishna Iyer asked who will police the police? When people did not trust police, the case was referred to CBI. Today, the question is who will CBI the CBI? There are 4 chargesheets till now. In none of them there is even a reference to me (Kejriwal). I am on the timing today. My essential arguments are necessity to arrest coupled with the timing of arrest. This is a classic case of abuse of power," Chaudhari argued.He further queried as to whether there was any change of circumstances for the CBI to seek Kejriwal's arrest today."I have been granted bail by the Special Court on June 20, 2024 (now stayed on High Court's order). When did you make me an accused? From 160 CrPC to an accused? What has changed? How it has changed? There is nothing mentioned here. Why do you require me now? Why were they waiting? They (CBI) say they didn't want to arrest me in May because they didn't want to overreach the Supreme Court order of interim bail. They are doing exactly that today," Chaudhari contended.Supporting Chaurdhari's contentions, advocate Vivek Jain added,"What changed? There is only one earth-shattering event that happened and that is the only thing that has changed. It is that I have been granted bail in the PMLA case. Same arguments were made in Manish Sisodia's case as well. Mr Manish Sisodia chargesheet has already been filed. If you are relying on the same evidence, how are you arresting me now? This shows mala fide.".Read more about the hearing here.