SC to hear Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's plea challenging ED arrest, remand on April 15
by Livemint · Mint Business News - Official Channel · JoinDays after the Delhi High Court dismissed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea challenging ED arrest, the Supreme Court will hear the matter on April 15. The Aam Aadmi Party convener challenged his arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and his subsequent remand in the excise policy case.
An SC bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will hear the matter. AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal is currently under judicial custody over suspicion of his links in alleged money laundering and excise policy scam cases.
After the Delhi CM's arrest by the ED, the AAP leader approached the Delhi High Court to challenge the ED action, however, the court dismissed his plea contending that his arrest was an inevitable consequence of his non-cooperation with ED investigation. The Delhi HC had highlighted that the Delhi CM had skipped nine ED summons.
Delhi CM claims arrest was made in ‘motivated manner’
After receiving no relief from the High Court, Arvind Kejriwal filed an appeal to the Supreme Court challenging the High Court judgement. While filing an appeal in the apex court, he mentioned that his arrest was made in a “motivated manner" in the middle of the election cycle. His plea mentioned that that arrest was made after the declaration of the Lok Sabha 2024 election schedule.
Seeking urgent intervention from the Supreme Court, the Chief Minister's appeal stated, that it is an issue of illegal curtailment of Kejriwal's liberty.
Calling Arvind Kejriwal's arrest an “unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy" based on “free and fair elections" and “federalism", the petition seeks the release of Delhi CM from jail. With the arrest, the ED has let its process “to be used and misused by vested interests" as an instrument of oppression to not only "invade the liberty of the political opponents" in the midst of general election, 2024 of such vested interests but also “to tarnish their reputation and self-esteem," the plea stated.
ARVIND
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Published: 13 Apr 2024, 02:21 PM IST