New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been remanded to the CBI’s custody for three days. The agency sought his custody for five days but Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court granted it three days’ custody, LiveLaw reported.
Hours before the Supreme Court was to hear Kejriwal’s plea against the Delhi high court’s staying his bail, the CBI formally arrested the already incarcerated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor on June 26.
The CBI has arrested Kejriwal in connection with a corruption case in the alleged liquor excise policy issue. This makes it possible for Kejriwal to be kept behind bars irrespective of what the Supreme Court says on bail in the Enforcement Directorate’s case against him on the same excise policy issue.
The Indian Express explains that this is because the standard of bail is different under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act than the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED arrested Kejriwal on March 21, claiming that the Delhi chief minister used money received from liquor sellers to fund party activities. Public Prosecutor D.P. Singh, speaking for the CBI, was quoted as having said, “We have traced the precise trail of Rs 45 crores allegedly used in the Goa elections by the AAP.”
The Wire had reported last evening that the CBI moved to arrest Kejriwal from Tihar Jail. He was produced in the Rouse Avenue court today.
“I am not required to seek the accused’s permission or submit applications to them to continue my investigation. My only requirement is to obtain the Court’s permission,” Public Prosecutor Singh said.
Kejriwal was granted bail by a trial court on June 20, with the judge saying that the ED – under the control of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government – had acted with bias against him. The high court halted his release a day later, and yesterday, June 25, announced a stay on the bail order.
Kejriwal had moved the Supreme Court and a bench of Justice Manoj Misra and S.V.N. Bhatti stressed that passing any order would amount to “pre-judging the issue” and said it would await the high court’s final order. The matter was listed for hearing today.
