The Delhi High Court has refused to grant any interim relief to the Arvind Kejriwal in liquor scam case. The court has directed enforcement directorate to file a reply and has directed for listing of the matter on April 3 for final disposal.
The Order passed by Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma, states in operative part:
“In such circumstances, this Court deems it appropriate to issue notice of the main writ petition as well as application for grant of interim relief, returnable on 03.04.2024.
Mr. Zoheb Hossain, learned Special Counsel accepts notice on behalf of Directorate of Enforcement.
The Directorate of Enforcement will ensure that replies are filed to the main petition as well as the application for interim release of the petitioner by 02.04.2024 and copies of the same are provided in digitized form as well as hard copy to the learned counsel for the petitioner. The application as well as the main petition will be taken up for final disposal on 03.04.2024. No adjournment shall be granted on the said date.”
Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, moved a plea in the Delhi High Court challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an excise policy case. Kejriwal’s arrest has sparked controversy and debates around the procedures followed by the ED in dealing with high-profile political cases.
Kejriwal, who is currently under ED custody, alleges in his plea that the agency has a pattern of targeting individuals linked to political figures under investigation. According to the Chief Minister, the ED not only opposes bail for these individuals but also coerces them into becoming approvers against the political figure in question. These approvers, he claims, then face health issues, leading the ED to support their bail, suggesting a bias in how the agency handles such cases.
The plea by Kejriwal, the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), seeks his immediate release. He was arrested on March 21 and subsequently remanded to ED custody until March 28, following a court order. The arrest came after the Delhi High Court refused to grant Kejriwal protection from coercive action by the ED in the alleged money-laundering case linked to the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which has since been scrapped.
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Responding to the challenge, the Enforcement Directorate, through Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, has requested additional time from the court to prepare a comprehensive response. The agency cited the complexity and volume of Kejriwal’s petition as the reason for needing more time, proposing a three-week period to formulate their argument.
However, senior advocate AM Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, has criticized the ED’s request for more time as a deliberate delay tactic. Singhvi argues that the issues raised by Kejriwal’s challenge to his arrest are of urgent nature and demand immediate consideration by the high court.
