New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (April 30) questioned the Enforcement Directorate on the timing of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, right before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Liberty is very exceedingly important, you can’t deny that. The last question is with regard to the timing of the arrest, which they have pointed out, the timing of the arrest, soon before the general elections,” Justice Sanjiv Khanna told Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, according to LiveLaw.
The ED has been asked to respond on Friday.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta has been hearing Kejriwal’s petition challenging his arrest. Kejriwal’s lawyer, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, had raised serious questions in court this week on the chief minister’s arrest, particularly the timing. There was no new material evidence that had surfaced, he said, and yet the ED chose to arrest him after the Model Code of Conduct was in place.
Kejriwal was arrested in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam case. Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is in jail in the same case, while Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has got bail.
Also on Tuesday, a Delhi court denied bail to Sisodia in the CBI and ED cases against him.
AAP has held that this case was an attempt by the Union government to use the central agencies and stop the party – and the Delhi government – from functioning.
