Kejriwal had earlier instructed the apex court docket that his ‘unlawful arrest’ in the case constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy primarily based on ‘free and truthful elections’ and ‘federalism’
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal difficult his arrest in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise coverage rip-off. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta is probably going to hear the matter.
Kejriwal had earlier instructed the apex court docket that his “illegal arrest” in the case constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy primarily based on “free and fair elections” and “federalism”.
In a rejoinder to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) reply affidavit filed on his petition difficult his arrest in the case, Kejriwal mentioned the mode, method and timing of his arrest simply earlier than the Lok Sabha elections when the Model Code of Conduct had come into play, speaks volumes concerning the “arbitrariness” of the company.
Kejriwal claimed it’s a “classical case” of how the Centre has misused the ED and its extensive powers underneath the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to “crush” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders.
It claimed that the ED illegally ‘picked up’ a sitting chief minister and the nationwide convenor of one of many nationwide Opposition events, 5 days after the final elections had been introduced and the Model Code of Conduct got here into pressure.
He mentioned a degree taking part in area, which is a pre-requisite for ‘free and truthful elections’, has clearly been compromised together with his unlawful arrest.
It mentioned your entire foundation of Kejriwal’s arrest rests upon sure statements that are in the character of “self-incriminating confessions” by alleged accomplices who’ve been given the immunity by means of pardon and so on.
“Whether such statements could qualify as materials to reach the conclusion of guilt as envisaged under section 19 PMLA to justify the arrest of a sitting chief minister of NCT of Delhi or a national convenor of a national political party in India in the midst of general elections,” it requested.
In the rejoinder, Kejriwal alleged the one goal of the ED was to procure and acquire some assertion against him and as quickly because the assertion was taken, the mission of the probe company was completed and thereafter, the co-accused had been neither arrested nor any additional statements had been taken.
The AAP chief claimed the malicious intent of the ED in conducting the investigation was obvious from its deliberate concealment of statements made by co-accused people the place both no allegations had been made or allegations had been explicitly denied.
Kejriwal additionally mentioned there is no such thing as a hyperlink in any respect established by the ED to declare that an quantity of Rs 45 crore was transferred by the South group as superior kickback which was then utilised by the AAP in the Goa elections.
The chief minister mentioned the ED, in its reply affidavit filed in the apex court docket, has mentioned that one of many causes which necessitated his arrest was that he didn’t stay current earlier than the investigating officer (IO) regardless of being summoned 9 instances.
In its reply affidavit filed in the apex court docket earlier this week, the ED has claimed that Kejriwal is the “kingpin and key conspirator” of the excise coverage rip-off and the arrest of an individual for an offence primarily based on materials can by no means violate the “concept of free and fair elections”.
The ED arrested Kejriwal on March 21 after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him safety from coercive motion by the federal anti-money laundering company. He is at present lodged in Tihar jail underneath judicial custody.
On April 15, the highest court docket issued a discover to the ED and sought its response to Kejriwal’s plea.
The excessive court docket had on April 9 upheld Kejriwal’s arrest in the money laundering case, saying there was no illegality about it and that the ED was left with “little option” after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to be a part of the investigation.
The matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi authorities’s excise coverage for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA workers and is revealed from PTI)
