GUWAHATI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate for six days by a Delhi court today.
The Delhi CM will remain in ED’s custody till March 28. The remand order was given by Special CBI Judge Kaveri Baweja after Kejriwal was produced in court today.
Earlier, ED had sought custody of Kejriwal for 10 days, alleging that he is the "kingpin" of Delhi excise scam and is directly involved in the use of proceeds of crime amounting to over Rs. 100 crores.
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The ED officials stated that even during the raid at the official residence of the Delhi CM last night, he allegedly did not give correct facts, as the Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said, "Confrontation is required. We need to recover the money trail. It is a fit case to grant remand.”
However, Kejriwal’s counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi submitted in court that till yesterday, ED had not disclosed in the High Court proceedings that Kejriwal was being probed as an accused in the case and said that the threshold for arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is very high, and that Section 19 provides for arrest to be made if the agency has reason to believe that the accused has been "guilty" of an offence punishable under the Act on the basis of material in its possession.
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Singhvi stated in court that the ED had failed to show the "necessity" to arrest the Chief Minister and said, "There is no direct evidence.”
He further urged the court not to look at remand mechanically and submitted that the issue requires a significant judicial mind as "There are larger issues of democracy involved.”
The Delhi Chief Minister was earlier arrested by ED on March 21, over his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor case, after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him interim protection from arrest.
