Liquor policy case: Arvind Kejriwal moves Supreme Court against arrest

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal has moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the Delhi High Court's order rejecting his petition against his arrest in the liquor policy case.

On Tuesday, after the Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal's plea against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), his counsel, Rishikesh Kumar, stated that they were well within their rights to challenge the ruling.

"We have challenged the illegal arrest of Arvind Kejriwal. The High Court in its finding has said that the remand order is legal and, secondly, they said that they had grounds to arrest. These were the findings of the High Court in today's decision. Because the order is amenable to a challenge in the Supreme Court, we are waiting for the order to come. Once the detailed order is uploaded, we will challenge it before the Supreme Court as early as possible," he was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.

Delhi High Court's ruling

Dismissing his plea, the Delhi High Court said that Kejriwal's arrest in the money laundering case wasn't in contravention of the law, and the remand can't be deemed "illegal."

The court further stated, "This court is of the opinion that the accused has been arrested and his arrest and remand have to be examined as per law and not as per the timing of elections. Kejriwal's challenge to the timing of arrest before the general elections in the absence of any mala fide on the part of the ED is not sustainable."

AAP's response

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that his party disagreed with the decision and intended to challenge it in the Supreme Court.

He further claimed that no money was recovered in the case.

"Whatever has happened till now in the so-called Excise Policy case, it can be said that the entire case is not about money laundering but is the country's biggest political conspiracy within which there is a big conspiracy to destroy the chief minister, who has won with the highest number of votes as compared to other states. Till now, there has been talk of crores, but the ED and CBI have not recovered a single illegal rupee. This raises big questions about the investigation," he said.

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in connection with a money laundering case linked to the Delhi liquor policy case. He is currently lodged at Tihar Jail until April 15, after he was sent to 14-day judicial custody.