The Supreme Court will hear on April 15 the appeal of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, challenging the Delhi High Court order dismissing his plea against his arrest and remand in the Delhi liquor scam, as per the computer generated causelist of the top court.
The apex court has, however, not decided yet who would be the judges to hear his appeal.
A day after his plea was rejected by the Delhi High Court on April 9, Kejriwal on Wednesday knocked the doors of the Supreme Court. He also vehemently pleaded to the Supreme Court to list his appeal as soon as possible.
Kejriwal was arrested on the night of March 21. On March 22, a trial court remanded him to six days of ED custody, which was extended by a further four days. On April 1, he was remanded to judicial custody till April 15.
Kejriwal, who is currently in judicial custody, also challenged his subsequent remand, apart from his arrest, by the ED in the case.
He claimed innocence in the liquor scam and told the HC on Wednesday that the timing of his arrest was intended to 'demolish' his party before the Lok Sabha polls.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, senior lawyer for the ED, said there was sufficient evidence against him.
The Delhi HC, in its order had said, "The arrest of Arvind Kejriwal was not in contravention of the legal provisions. The remand can't be held to be illegal."
"The material collected by the ED reveals that Kejriwal conspired and was involved in formulation of excise policy and used proceeds of crime. He is also allegedly involved in personal capacity in formulation of policy and demanding kickbacks and secondly in the capacity of national convenor of AAP," the judge had said in her order.
The judge went on to say that the rigours of section 70 PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) are attracted in this case. Section 70 penalises offences by companies. When a company contravenes the PMLA, every person who at the time of the contravention was in charge of conduct of business of the company will be deemed to be guilty, the court said.
