Liquor policy case: Court sends Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till April 15

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on April 1, was remanded to judicial custody till April 15 in the liquor policy case.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) asked for 15 days of judicial custody, citing Kejriwal's "non-cooperative behaviour". "Kejriwal's conduct has been non cooperative and he is giving evasive replies. The ED may require further custody in future," said ASG SV Raju, who appeared for the probe agency.

ED also claimed that Kejriwal had informed them that Vijay Nair, the former communication-in-charge of the AAP and an accused in the liquor scam case reported to Atishi and not him.

On March 28, the Rouse Avenue court had extended Kejriwal's ED remand till April 1 and directed he be produced again by 11.30 am on that day.

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.

A day later, a Delhi court remanded Kejriwal to ED custody till March 28.

During the hearing at Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on March 22, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, who appeared for ED contended that Kejriwal was the key conspirator in the alleged irregularities in the scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22. Raju said, "He was directly involved in the formulation of the policy and was involved in the handling of proceeds of crime."

The ASG told the court that there was concrete evidence of alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy, and its proceeds being used to fund the AAP election campaign in Goa in 2022. Further, Raju alleged that the proceeds of the scam were transferred to Goa using the hawala route.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who opened the arguments for Kejriwal, argued that there was no direct evidence linking Kejriwal to the alleged irregularities, except for some witness statements.

Singhvi also said that these attempts were being made to affect AAP's chances in the upcoming elections. "Four senior leaders of his party have been arrested. There will be no level playing field," he said, adding that there was no need to arrest Kejriwal  in March 2024. "In your grounds of arrest, there is no ground to arrest me," he argued.