Graft case: Delhi HC to hear CM Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against arrest by CBI today

NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court will take up on Tuesday chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a “corruption” case related to the alleged excise policy scam.
The plea, which was filed on Monday, has been listed for hearing before Justice Neena Bansal Krishna.
In the plea, the Aam Aadmi Party national convenor also challenged a June 26 order of the trial court by which he was remanded in the CBI custody for three days.
Kejriwal was arrested by CBI on June 26 from Tihar Jail, where he was in judicial custody till July 3 in a related “money-laundering case” filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
CBI had claimed before the trial court that the AAP chief did not cooperate with the investigation and deliberately gave evasive replies. The federal agency had also expressed apprehension that he might influence witnesses.
While sending Kejriwal to the CBI’s custody for three days on June 26, the trial court had refused to declare his arrest illegal, as sought by the defence counsel, saying that “the timing may be circumspect, but it is not the clear criterion for declaring an arrest illegal”. The trial court had said that while investigation was the prerogative of the probe agency, there were certain safeguards provided in law and the agency should not be “overzealous.”
The CM was arrested by ED on March 21 and was granted bail by the trial court in the “money-laundering” case on June 20. However, the trial court’s order was stayed by the high court.