NEW DELHI: The legal team of Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday objected to the affidavit filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposing his interim bail in the Supreme Court.
The team said that a formal complaint has been lodged with the SC’s registry. Denouncing the ED’s affidavit as a blatant disregard of legal procedures, the AAP said the affidavit was submitted without seeking the SC approval and issued at a time when the matter is slated for a final decision in the top court.
Questioning the ED objection to the interim bail, AAP said it was known that even after two years of investigation, not a single rupee or piece of evidence has been recovered incriminating anybody in AAP. Further, the grounds for Kejriwal’s arrest are based on statements made by other implicated persons — Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Sarath Reddy, Satya Vijay Naik, and a close aide of an ex-BJP CM.
The party alleged the ED relied solely on the statements of accused-turned-witnesses with direct links to the BJP. For instance, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, who got an NDA Lok Sabha ticket, gave a statement to facilitate the bail of his son, Raghav Reddy. Another approver P Sarath Reddy sent `60 crore to BJP account through electoral bonds to secure his own bail. A third person, Satya Vijay Naik, who fought the 2022 Goa polls on AAP ticket, is closely linked to Goa CM Pramod Sawant.
Another accused-turned-approver was a close aide of former BJP CM Manohar Parrikar. AAP said these statements indicated a pattern. The ED repeatedly objected to the bail of some of the accused, but when they made statements implicating the CM, they were granted bail/pardon. All statements where there is no allegation against Kejriwal were deliberately ignored by ED, AAP said.
The AAP alleged that the ED illegally “picked up” a sitting CM and the national convenor of a party on March 21 — five days after the Lok Sabha elections were announced.
