Excise policy case: Delhi court sends Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till July 12 on CBI's plea

Delhi court on Arvind Kejriwal's CBI custody

A Delhi court on June 29 sent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till July 12 in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case linked to the alleged liquor policy scam.

The Chief Minister will be presented again before the Rouse Avenue Court on July 12. The order came after the federal probe agency sought a 14-day judicial remand, saying his incarceration was required in the "interest of the investigation and justice".

Special Judge Sunena Sharma pronounced the order on the plea after Kejriwal was produced in the court on the expiry of his three-day police custody.

On June 26, the court remanded Arvind Kejriwal to CBI custody for three days. The court directed that Kejriwal be produced again before 7 pm on June 29, it also permitted the his lawyers and wife to meet him once a day for a hour.

The CBI had sought five-day custody of the Delhi CM on June 26 after it arrested him on the same day in the liquor policy case.

ED arrest:

Kejriwal, who was arrested in March 2024 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on money laundering charges in the liquor policy case, was granted bail by the trial court on June 20.

However, the Delhi high court on June 21 stayed a lower court's order granting bail to Kejriwal in the Delhi excise policy case. The court said it was reserving its order for two or three days to review the case records.

On June 25, the high court stayed the regular bail, saying the trial court “didn’t apply its mind” and could not have said that it was unable to read thousands of pages of documents.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) should have been given appropriate opportunity to present its case, the high court said.

The central agency that investigates economic offences, including money laundering, arrested the Delhi chief minister on March 21, saying he was the “kingpin” of the liquor policy designed to benefit a certain groups of people. The policy was later scrapped.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on June 26 withdrew his  Supreme Court plea against a Delhi High Court order that stayed the regular bail granted to him by a trial court in an excise policy case.

The chief minister will file a new plea to challenge the high court's June 25 order that stayed the bail granted to him by Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court.