Excise case: SC to hear on April 15 Arvind Kejriwal's plea against HC order upholding his arrest by ED

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals plea against a high court order that has upheld his arrest in a moneylaundering case stemming from the alleged excise policy scamAccording to the cause list uploaded on the apex courts website a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will hear on April 15 Kejriwals petition challenging the Delhi High Courts April 9 orderIn a massive blow to the chief minister the high court has upheld his arrest in the moneylaundering case saying the Enforcement Directorate ED was left with little option after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigationThe high court has dismissed the Aam Aadmi Party AAP leaders petition challenging his arrest by the ED and subsequent remand in the federal agencys custodyThe matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi governments excise policy for 202122 that was later scrappedKejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal antimoney laundering agencyHe is in judicial custody till April 15 and is currently lodged in Tihar JailKejriwal has described his arrest by the ED ahead of the general election as an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy and urged the apex court to release him by declaring the case against him as illegalIn the appeal filed in the top court Kejriwal has said his arrest on March 21 after the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls was obviously motivated by extraneous considerationsThe intervention of this court is urgently warranted as over and above the issue of illegal curtailment of liberty the petitioners arrest also constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy freeandfair elections and federalism both of which form significant constituents of the basic structure of the Constitution the plea has saidThe arrest was made solely relying on subsequent contradictory and highlybelated statements of the coaccused who have now turned approvers it has saidMoreover such statements and material were in possession of the ED for nine months and still the arrest was made illegally days before the general election Kejriwal has said in his pleaThe petitioners arrest bears serious irreversible ramifications for the future of electoral democracy in India and if he is not released forthwith to participate in the upcoming elections it will establish a precedence in law for ruling parties to arrest heads of political opposition on flimsy and vexatious charges before elections thereby eroding the core principles of our Constitution the plea has saidAssailing the high court order it has said the judgment failed to appreciate that statements made before a probe agency are not held to be the gospel truth and can always be doubted by the courtsThe ED has allowed 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 elections 2024 of such vested interests but also to tarnish their reputation and selfesteem Such lawlessness cannot be allowed to be perpetrated under any circumstances the plea in the top court has saidThe high court had cited the EDs claim that Kejriwal conspired and was actively involved in the use and concealment of the proceeds of crime to reject his petition against his arrestIt had chastised the AAP leader alleged to have been involved in money laundering in his personal capacity and in his capacity as the national convenor of a political party for questioning the timing of his arrest and underlined that an investigation against the classes and masses cannot be differentIt had also rebuked Kejriwal for casting aspersions on the judicial process with his claim about an approver making donations to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party BJP at the Centre through electoral bonds saying the law relating to approvers is more than 100 years old and it was not enacted to implicate himThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever