Arvind Kejriwal Arrested:
From questioning of Arvind Kejriwal to his arrest, know what has happened so far?
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday night in a money laundering case related to the excise policy and took him to its office here, officials said.
He was arrested hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor any relief from any punitive action by the agency.
This is the first case of arrest of a chief minister while in office. Kejriwal’s (55) arrest, amid the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, has evoked sharp reaction from the AAP. “Kejriwal will remain the chief minister of Delhi. If needed, he will run the government from jail,” the AAP said. However, the BJP has demanded his resignation from the chief minister’s post on moral grounds.
Officials said that in a fast-paced development during the day, a 10-member team of the agency led by an additional director of the ED reached his official residence in Civil Lines here and conducted searches. He was arrested more than two hours after the ED team reached the chief minister’s residence.
Sources said the ED questioned Kejriwal for some time before arresting him. They said some seizures were also made during the raid. According to officials, the federal agency brought Kejriwal to its office in central Delhi in an SUV at around 11:25 pm. He was seen in the rear seat of the vehicle. Three ED officials were accompanying him in the vehicle. They said that a team of doctors called by the ED checked Kejriwal and kept him in custody before presenting him in the court. Medical checkup is a prescribed procedure for people to be arrested. This is the 16th arrest by the ED in this case. Officials said that the ED will present the Chief Minister in a court here on Friday and request his custody for questioning.
The ED has so far filed six chargesheets in the case and has seized property worth Rs 128 crore. Kejriwal had avoided nine summons issued by the agency for questioning in the case. Among these, a new summon was issued on Thursday, March 21. He has termed these summons as ‘illegal’.
While the ED officials were conducting raids inside Kejriwal’s residence, apart from additional forces of Delhi Police, Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were deployed around the Chief Minister’s residence. A large number of AAP supporters and leaders gathered near the Chief Minister’s residence and raised slogans against the ED action. They raised slogans in support of Kejriwal and condemned the ED action.
The Delhi Police has also increased security around the agency’s office located at APJ Abdul Kalam Road in central Delhi. During the day, Kejriwal moved the Supreme Court against the High Court’s order refusing to give any relief in the case.
Delhi government minister and AAP leader Atishi posted on ‘X’, “We have approached the Supreme Court to cancel the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the ED. We have requested the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing tonight itself.” Last week, former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter and Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader K. Kavitha was arrested by the agency from her residence in Hyderabad and is currently in ED custody till March 23 in the same case.
The case is related to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22. However, this policy was later canceled. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the case. Kejriwal’s name has been mentioned several times in the ED chargesheet. The agency alleges that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal to formulate the excise policy. AAP is accused of taking bribes to formulate and implement this policy.
In a recent statement, the ED had alleged that BRS leader Kavita (46) and some others had “conspired” with top AAP leaders like Kejriwal and Sisodia to get benefits in the excise policy by paying Rs 100 crore to the Aam Aadmi Party. Atishi told reporters, “This whole episode shows how scared Prime Minister Narendra Modi is of Kejriwal. He conspired to send him to jail before the Lok Sabha elections.” On the ED action, AAP MP Raghav Chadha alleged that a big conspiracy was hatched to arrest Kejriwal just before the Lok Sabha elections. Kejriwal is also facing an ED case in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Jal Board.