The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday after carrying out searches at his official residence and questioning the AAP leader for nearly two hours in connection with the money laundering probe linked to the excise policy case. The arrest comes hours after the Delhi high court refused to grant him interim protection from coercive action against Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering probe
“It appears that ED has raided the residence of chief minister (Arvind Kejriwal). No one is being allowed to go inside the CM residence. It appears that they are fully prepared to arrest the CM. The people of Delhi are watching, we will not remain silent,” AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said.
Soon after Kejriwal’s arrest, Atishi said, “It is a political conspiracy and not linked to any case or investigation. If they wanted to investigate, ED could have waited for the court’s judgement. We have filed an application and are requesting the Supreme Court to grant us an urgent hearing during this night. Arvind Kejriwal will not resign. He is and will remain the Delhi chief minister.”
Rapid action force (RAF) personnel arrived outside Kejriwal’s house forming the front layer security cordon. Multiple iron barricades were placed to form the second layer of the security cordon.
Meanwhile, top AAP leaders including Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj also arrived at Kejriwal’s residence while party workers raised slogans in support of the chief minister.
What is the case in which Kejriwal is being questioned?
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are already in judicial custody in the case. Kejriwal skipped eight summons issued by the federal agency since November 2 last year, calling it “illegal and politically motivated”.
ED has claimed that a conspiracy was hatched by political leaders including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and K Kavitha (arrested last week) among others in the Delhi excise policy. A South Group comprising businessman Sarath Reddy, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and K Kavitha got nine zones out of 32 in Delhi under the new excise policy 2021-22. The policy was brought out with an extraordinarily high 12% profit margin for wholesalers and almost 185% profit margin for retailers. As per the conspiracy, 6% out of the 12% margin was to be collected back from the wholesalers as a kickback to the leaders of AAP, ED has alleged.
The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped. The Enforcement Directorate claims that AAP leaders received kickbacks worth ₹100 crore in the excise policy. Kejriwal’s name has also been mentioned multiple times in the charge sheets filed by the ED. The agency has alleged that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal for formulating the excise policy.
(This story has not been edited by News Mania staff and is published from a Media Release)
