'Arvind Kejriwal named Atishi and Saurav Bharadwaj when asked about Vijay Nair': ED tells court

Kejriwal named Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, ED claims

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on April 1 claimed that Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvin Kejriwal stated that Vijay Nair, an accused in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, reported to ministers Atishi Marlena and Saurav Bharardwaj and not him.

Nair, is a former chief executive officer of an event management company and communication in-charge of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

"On being asked about the extent of interaction and reporting of Vijay Nair to the arrestee, he (Arvind Kejriwal) stated that  Vijay Nair didn't report to him but to Aatishi Marlena and Saurav Bharadwaj and his interaction with Sh Vijay Nair was limited," the remand plea filed by ED said.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, who appeared for ED, also made these submissions in the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi, before the Delhi CM was remanded to judicial custody till April 15.

The ED made these submissions in the plea to establish that Kejriwal was not cooperating with the investigation and should thus be remanded to a 15-day judicial custody.

In its plea, ED has however stated that Nair has himself revealed that he stayed in a Cabinet Minister's Bunglow and worked from the Camp office of the CM.

According to the plea, "It was also put to the arrestee (Kejriwal) to explain that why would someone, who reported to other leaders of AAP, work from his camp office, which anyways is meant for the work of the CM of Delhi and not for the party. Arvind Kejriwal evaded replying to this by claiming unawareness to the persons who work at the CM Camp office."

ED has contended that Vijay Nair occupied a prominent position in AAP by virtue of being its head of Media and Communications. According to the plea, "He (Kejriwal) was also shown different whatsapp chats showing the involvement of Vijay Nair, who was a close associate of the arrestee and lived and worked very closely with the arrestee. The arrestee has not answered the questions posed to him by questioning the authenticity of digital evidence shown to him."

ED also contended that Kejriwal was shown the evidence of Vijay Nair's meetings with other co-accused persons involved in liquor business including liquor manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and even middlemen like Dinesh Arora and Abhishek Boinpally.

The plea stated, "It was put to Kejriwal to explain the authority with which Vijay Nair attended these meetings, the arrestee evaded the question by claiming unawareness of these persons." The law enforcement agency has thus claimed that Vijay Nair could not have done all these without the approval of the head of the party.

Kejriwal's arrest:

On March 21, hours after the Delhi High Court refused to protect Kejriwal from arrest, the ED arrested him in the Delhi liquor policy case. Though the Delhi CM moved the Supreme Court challenging his arrest, he withdrew it after deciding to challenge his remand by the ED.

On the next day, he was remanded to ED custody till March 28, which was then extended till April 1. On April 1, he was sent to judicial custody till April 15.