The Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, will have to spend an additional four days in Tihar jail if his appeal against the high court’s decision from yesterday is not heard by the Supreme Court today. For the next four days, the court will be closed. The Supreme Court’s calendar states that on Thursday, Eid-Ul-Fitr, the court will be closed. On Friday, there will be a local holiday, and then the week will begin. Thus, the court will reconvene on Monday.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Mr. Kejriwal, brought up the issue with Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud this morning and requested an expedited hearing. If a hearing is allowed today, the Chief Justice declined to say so. He said, “We will see, we will look into it,” and that he would issue the proper commands during the day.
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Yesterday, the high court rejected Mr. Kejriwal’s appeal against his arrest on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case involving the now-cancelled liquor policy in Delhi. The central agency had “little option,” the court ruled, after the AAP leader ignored several summonses related to the money laundering case. It also referred to the charge made by the ED that Mr. Kejriwal was actively involved in the use and hiding of purportedly illicit proceeds.
The court emphasized that a probe agency does not need to adhere to a different protocol when questioning a Chief Minister and an average citizen.
“In addition, it is the opinion of this Court that laws for common citizens and those granting special privileges to be granted by an investigating agency to a Chief Minister or any other person in power solely on the basis of holding that public office—a public office that that public figure enjoys as a result of the public’s mandate—would not be established,” Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma stated in her statement.
AAP leader and Minister for Delhi Saurabh Bharadwaj expressed optimism about a favorable Supreme Court decision. He claimed that during their searches in relation to the Delhi liquor policy case, the ED and the CBI turned up not a single rupee. “Crupies are the topic of discussion. But the CBI and ED have not discovered a single rupee of illicit funds. He claimed that witnesses had been under pressure to alter their testimony and say what the ED wanted them to. “Money laundering is not at issue here. This is the biggest political conspiracy in India’s history.”
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