The Delhi High Court delivered its verdict today on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to an alleged liquor policy scam. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed Kejriwal’s petition, upholding the decision to send him to judicial custody until April 15, where he currently remains in Tihar jail.
Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has consistently denounced the corruption case against him as a political conspiracy. Alongside challenging his custody by the Enforcement Directorate, he had raised concerns about the timing of his arrest, arguing that it unfairly disrupted the level playing field in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
However, the Enforcement Directorate opposed Kejriwal’s petition, asserting that the law applies equally to him as it does to any ordinary citizen. They argued that being a chief minister does not exempt him from legal scrutiny, and questioned the notion that his arrest would violate the basic structure of the Constitution.
Despite Kejriwal’s claims of innocence and lack of evidence implicating him in the alleged scam, the agency maintains that it has traced the money trail linking him to the case. The controversy surrounding the liquor policy, introduced to reform the liquor business in Delhi but subsequently scrapped amid allegations of irregularities, has escalated with the ED alleging that bribe money from the policy funded AAP’s election campaigns.
Kejriwal’s arrest on March 21 stirred significant controversy, particularly after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action. Subsequently, he was sent to jail for two weeks on April 1 following 11 days of ED custody.
As the legal proceedings unfold, the case underscores the tensions between political leaders and law enforcement agencies, highlighting broader issues of accountability and transparency in governance.