Excise policy scam: ED’s response sought on Kejriwal’s plea against arrest

The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Enforcement Directorate on a plea filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging his arrest in a money laundering case arising out of the alleged excise tax scam.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice to the ED on Kejriwal’s plea against the Delhi High Court order that had upheld his arrest in the case.

The Supreme Court asks ED to file its response on or before April 24. The Supreme Court will publish Kejriwal’s plea in the week beginning April 29.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Kejriwal tells the Supreme Court that the arrest was made to eliminate him from… https://t.co/ngPlXoH0zb
— ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2024

The court asked the ED to file a reply to the plea before April 24 and said the matter would be heard in the week of April 29.

The Supreme Court had on April 9 upheld his arrest in the money laundering case, saying the ED was left with “little option” after he skipped repeated summons and refused to cooperate in the investigation.

The Supreme Court had dismissed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader’s petition challenging his arrest by the ED and subsequent judicial custody of the federal agency.

The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-2022, which was later scrapped.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, hours after the Supreme Court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency.

He is currently in Tihar Jail.

First print: April 15, 2024 | 1:34 PM IST