CM Kejriwal to appear in court in Delhi today

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is behind bars in connection with the alleged liquor scandal, will be produced before the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi on Wednesday.

After taking cognizance of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheet last week, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja issued an arrest warrant against CM Kejriwal on September 11 and also extended his remand till the same date.

Earlier, the CBI had filed its supplementary chargesheet before a court here against the Delhi Chief Minister and other accused in the excise policy case.

The Supreme Court has not yet delivered its verdict on Chief Minister Kejriwal’s petition challenging his arrest by the CBI and seeking bail in the corruption case.

On September 5, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan reserved its decision after hearing oral arguments of senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) president, and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing on behalf of the CBI.

During the hearing, Singhvi alleged that the CBI did not arrest CM Kejriwal for two years but made an “insurance arrest” in a hurry to prevent his release in the money laundering case.

Singhvi added that Kejriwal, a constitutional officer who holds the office of Delhi’s chief minister, had fulfilled the triple requirement for granting bail. “He is not a flight risk, he will appear to answer the questions of the investigating agency and he cannot tamper with documents running into hundreds of thousands of pages and digital evidence after two years,” he added.

On the other hand, the central authority feared that the release of Chief Minister Kejriwal would arouse hostility among many witnesses and urged the Supreme Court not to grant him bail.

ASG Raju said that many AAP candidates in the Goa Legislative Assembly elections had approached the central agency only after the arrest of Chief Minister Kejriwal.

“They (the witnesses) will become hostile if Their Lordships release Kejriwal on bail,” he argued.

He argued that Kejriwal’s bail application should be remanded to the trial court and that he should not have applied for bail in the Delhi High Court at the first instance.

The ASG explained that an arrest is part of an investigation and normally an investigating officer does not need a court’s permission to make an arrest. “But in the present case, there was a court order granting the authority (to arrest),” he said. He added that if an arrest is made on the basis of a court order, an accused cannot plead violation of fundamental rights.

In his special leave petition before the Supreme Court, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader challenged his arrest and the subsequent remand orders while also seeking bail in the corruption case. The CBI, on the other hand, sought dismissal of Chief Minister Kejriwal’s petition, saying that the AAP chief was only trying to create political drama in the matter despite several orders issued by different courts prima facie satisfying the commission of the offences for which cognizance was already taken.

The Supreme Court on July 12 ordered the interim release of CM Kejriwal in connection with the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). However, he could not leave the jail as he was arrested by the CBI.