Supreme Court: In a petition by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking bail in Central Bureau of Investigation’s (‘CBI’) case in the Delhi Excise Liquor Policy matter and challenging his arrest by the CBI, the Division Bench of Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, JJ. issued notice to the CBI and sought their response on his plea.
The present petition challenged the Delhi High Court’s verdicts dated 05-08-2024 in Arvind Kejriwal v. CBI, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 5305 and Arvind Kejriwal v. CBI, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 5316, wherein he was directed to approach the Trial Court as when the bail application in the CBI matter was filed before the High Court, the chargesheet had not been filed, however, in the changed circumstances, chargesheet got filed before the Special Judge. His arrest by the CBI and subsequent remands were held to be not illegal.
On 09-04-2024, the High Court had dismissed his plea challenging the arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement (‘ED’) for offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (‘PMLA’). On 12-07-2024, the Court granted him interim bail in ED’s matter while referring his petition challenging the arrest by the ED to a larger bench.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED at his residence in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case on 21-03-2024, after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him the interim protection. The Rouse Avenue District Court granted custody of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to ED till 28-03-2024. The ED had registered Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on 22-08-2022 pursuant to registration of the predicate offences by the Central Bureau of Investigation on 17-08-2022 under Section 120-B read with Section 447-A of the IPC, 1860 and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The CBI had arrested Kejriwal on 26-06-2024, while he was in judicial custody in connection with the money laundering case registered by the ED.
The case involved two parallel investigations by the CBI and the ED regarding irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) for the year 2021-2022. The CBI registered a case based on a complaint from the Lieutenant Governor of GNCTD and subsequent directions from the Ministry of Home Affairs, alleging offenses under the Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act. It is claimed that the accused, including prominent political figures like Vijay Nair and Manish Sisodia, conspired to create loopholes in the policy for personal gain, receiving kickbacks from the liquor business.
ED’s investigation had revealed that K Kavitha MLC, Telangana Legislative Council along with others conspired with the top leaders of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) including Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia for getting favours in the Delhi Excise policy-formulation and implementation. It was alleged that in exchange for these favours, K Kavitha paid an amount of Rs. 100 Crore to the leaders of AAP.
Source: Press
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