The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) formally arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case on Wednesday, and was granted three days to interrogate him in its custody. The day also saw Mr. Kejriwal withdraw his petition from the Supreme Court, promising to return with a fresh challenge against the stay of his statutory bail by the Delhi High Court on June 25.
Appearing before a Vacation Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and S.V.N. Bhatti, Mr. Kejriwal’s counsel, senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, conveyed his client’s angst at the flurry of events occurring over the past two days which have kept him in custody. “Events are overtaking us every day… On a 2022 interrogation and notice by the CBI, I [Mr. Kejriwal] have been arrested while still under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act [PMLA],” he said.
Mr. Singhvi was given the liberty to file a fresh and substantive petition against the High Court’s interim order to pause the operation of the bail granted to him by a trial court on June 20. The CBI arrest had followed the High Court judgment.
Remanding the Chief Minister, Special Judge Amitabh Rawat of the Delhi Rouse Avenue Court asked the CBI to produce him back in court at 7 p.m. on June 29. “Investigation is the prerogative of the investigating agency. There are certain safeguards provided in the law and at this stage, on the material on record, it cannot be said that the arrest is illegal. The agency, however, should not be overzealous,” the Special Court observed.
Mr. Kejriwal chose to address the court in person, submitting that he and other leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, including Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, were falsely implicated in the case. He accused the Central agencies of manipulating the media to create a wedge in the party leadership.
“I have never testified that Manish Sisodia is guilty in this matter. He is innocent and the entire AAP is innocent. I am innocent. The aim of such rumours that I have put all the onus on Sisodia is false and the agency is trying to malign us through the media,” Mr. Kejriwal said. He explained in court that the CBI had asked him about who had pitched for privatisation. “On this, I had said that the idea was not mine. That is all,” he said.