New Delhi. A money laundering case is going on against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. In the alleged liquor scam case of Delhi, the investigating agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested CM Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 after a long interrogation. Later, the Supreme Court ordered his release on interim bail till June 1 to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections-2024. At present, he is out of jail on bail. CM Kejriwal has challenged his arrest by ED in the Supreme Court. His petition is being heard in the apex court. During the hearing held recently, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and ASG SV Raju presented the side of the investigating agency on behalf of ED.
During the hearing on CM Kejriwal’s petition, SG Tushar Mehta made a strong argument in the Supreme Court. Tushar Mehta said, ‘At the time of arrest, the investigating officer (IO) has to take care of whether he has material (facts in support of arrest) regarding a particular case or not. For example, in this case, whether there are sufficient facts regarding taking a bribe of Rs 100 crore or not. Asking to consider every evidence (positive or negative) at the time of arrest is like putting the cart before the horse.’ In fact, the defense has claimed that there is not enough evidence for the arrest. SG Tushar Mehta tried to reject the defense’s argument with his logic.
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‘It is not political funding, it is corruption’
Taking his argument forward, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said before the Special Bench of the Supreme Court that the transactions made in this case (liquor scam) are not political donations at all, but money earned through corruption. On the other hand, ASG SV Raju, taking the debate forward on behalf of ED, said that Arvind Kejriwal had met the people of liquor lobby. This meeting was not held with charitable intentions. During this, ED tried to compare Aam Aadmi Party with the company so that Section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act could be implemented against CM Kejriwal. The investigating agency submitted before the court that under PMLA, the investigating officer is not required to disclose every material/evidence present in support of the arrest in the arrest order.
Claims to have strong evidence against Kejriwal
Investigative agency ED told the Supreme Court that it has direct evidence of Arvind Kejriwal demanding Rs 100 crore as bribe through Delhi liquor policy (now repealed). ASG SV Raju told the bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta that ED is also considering confiscating property equal to the value of the amount earned by crime. The investigating agency told the court that Kejriwal was not arrested with political motive. ASG Raju told the court that it has evidence of demanding Rs 100 crore. Also, there is material related to the fact that such a huge amount was generated and sent to Goa for election campaign.
Tags: CM Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi liquor scam, Directorate of Enforcement, Supreme Court
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 23, 2024, 08:02 IST