NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea against a high court order that has upheld his arrest in a money-laundering case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam.
According to the cause list uploaded on the apex court's website, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will hear on April 15 Kejriwal's petition challenging the Delhi High Court's April 9 order.
While filing an appeal in the apex court, Kejriwal contended that his arrest after the announcement of the general elections was "motivated by extraneous considerations."
The appeal stated that the sitting Chief Minister had been arrested in a "motivated manner" in the middle of the election cycle, especially after the declaration of the schedule of the Lok Sabha election in 2024.
In a massive blow to the chief minister, the high court on April 9 upheld his arrest in the money-laundering case, saying the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was left with "little option" after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.
The high court has dismissed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's petition challenging his arrest by the ED and subsequent remand in the federal agency's custody.
The matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021–22, which was later scrapped.
'Unprecedented assault on democracy'
Seeking urgent intervention from the Supreme Court, the Chief Minister's appeal stated, that it is an issue of illegal curtailment of Kejriwal's liberty.
Kejriwal's arrest also constitutes an "unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy" based on "free and fair elections" and "federalism," both of which form significant constituents of the basic structure of the Constitution, the appeal further stated.
The petition, while seeking the release of the Delhi Chief Minister from jail, said the ED has "allowed its process to be used and misused by vested interests" as an instrument of oppression to not only "invade the liberty of the political opponents" in the midst of general election, 2024 of such vested interests but also "to tarnish their reputation and self-esteem."
Such lawlessness cannot be allowed to be perpetrated under any circumstances, it said while urging the apex court to declare Kejriwal's arrest illegal.
"The petitioner's arrest, therefore, bears serious, irreversible ramifications for the future of electoral democracy in India, for if the petitioner is not released forthwith to participate in the upcoming elections, it will establish a precedence in law for ruling parties to arrest heads of political opposition on flimsy and vexatious charges before elections, thereby eroding the core principles of our Constitution," the petition stated.
Filing the appeal against the High Court judgement, Kejriwal said that there is no material in the possession of the Enforcement Directorate on the basis of which an inference of guilt can be made under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"Moreover, the circumstances and chronology of events clearly show that there was no necessity to arrest the petitioner (Kejriwal)," it added.
The arrest was made solely based on the subsequent, contradictory, and highly belated statements of co-accused who have now turned approvers, the appeal stated.
An appeal against the High Court order stated, "Moreover, such statements and material were in possession of the Enforcement Directorate for the last nine months and still the arrest has been made illegally in the middle of the 2024 general election."
These statements relied upon in the grounds of arrest were recorded by the ED from December 7, 2022, until July 27, 2023, and subsequently no further material has been collected against Kejriwal, it stated.
"There was no legal or factual basis for "reason to believe" or "material in possession" to consider the petitioner "guilty" for effecting an arrest. Obviously, there was no necessity for the arrest on March 21, 2024, based on this "material," as stated in the appeal.
Also, no statement was recorded before the arrest on March 21, 2024, to seek any explanation about this old material, before deciding on the requirements of Section 19 of the PMLA, it added.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency.
He is in judicial custody until April 15 and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
