Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest: Story so far

Transcript: 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to SCO Explains! Last week the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal.

Kejriwal was arrested four months ago (21 March) by the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy case. It is alleged that the now scrapped liquor policy was designed to favour leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party as it facilitated kickbacks in return for preferential treatment to private entities.

The ED had alleged that Kejriwal was the “kingpin” of the liquor policy case based on their charge sheets where he was accused of colluding with other AAP leaders and cabinet members. He is also accused of using the proceeds of crime in the Goa Assembly Elections.

Soon after his arrest, Kejriwal approached the Delhi High Court challenging the legality of his arrest under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The High Court upheld his arrest prompting Kejriwal to approach the Supreme Court.

In the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal argued that the ED had no grounds for arrest. For an arrest under PMLA to be valid, there are three criteria to be satisfied under Section 19.

The arrest has to be on the basis of material in possession with the ED. This means that the investigating officer should have concrete evidence including witness statements to conclude that an accused— in this instance Kejriwal— was involved.

Second, there must be a “reason to believe” that the accused is guilty of the offence and that reason should be recorded in writing. And lastly— third, the grounds for arrest should be communicated with the accused.

According to Singhvi, there was no sufficient material to arrest Kejriwal which would mean that the ED also had no reasons to believe that Kejriwal was guilty.

Kejriwal was also arrested a week after the model code of conduct for the 2024 General Elections came into play. Singhvi argued that the arrest was just a political move by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government to thwart the Aam Aadmi party’s prospects in the general elections.

The ED however, argued that there was sufficient evidence to establish the reasons to believe that Kejriwal was guilty. There were witness accounts which stated that Kejriwal was in fact involved in the scam.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stressed that the ED officer who is investigating the case is not responsible to conduct a “mini trial” before assessing the guilt of an accused under the PMLA.

He argued that the truth of witness statements need not be assessed by the investigating officer. If the available statements implicate the accused, they are sufficient for the prosecution.

Now this was all going on back in May, as the date for the Delhi poll of the general elections approached, the court considered an interim bail for Kejriwal.

The ED opposed it, saying that it would send the wrong message to the public that politicians are provided with preferential treatment. But the Court released Kejriwal on interim bail on 10th May for a period of three weeks directing him to surrender once the campaign is done.

During his bail period, Kejriwal campaigned at full swing, sometimes even taking digs at the ruling party for falsely implicating him.

Arguments on the validity of his arrest also concluded in the Supreme Court by 17 May, just before the Court went on its seven week summer break.

So now what happened during the entire summer break. In June, Kejriwal was back in Tihar jail after a setback for his party in the 2024 general elections and continued to await the Supreme Courts verdict on the plea challenging his arrest.

On 20th June, 3 months after he was taken into judicial custody, a trial court in Delhi granted him bail.

The trial court stated that Kejriwal was never summoned before it for his alleged crime, but languished in prison due to the ongoing investigation.

Judge Niyay Bindu observed that the ED had also failed to provide any direct link connecting Kejriwal with the alleged liquor scam.

The trial courts bail turned out to be a flash in the pan for Kejriwal. The very next day, the Delhi High Court imposed an interim stay on the order stating that it would review all available records on the case and then decide whether Kejriwal should be released.

Kejriwal immediately approached the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court’s stay order, but the vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SV Bhatti found it prudent to await the Delhi High Courts decision.

A day later, the Delhi High Court maintained the interim stay on Kejriwal. The next morning, on 26th June, minutes before Kejriwals hearing in the Supreme Court, he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the same excise policy case.

The CBI and the ED were concurrently investigating the case, but Kejriwal was only arrested by the ED so far.

Right after this, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi appeared for Kejriwal and informed the vacation bench, the petition challenging the interim stay will be withdrawn from the Supreme Court.

Now the new stay order will be challenged in a fresh petition.

This brings us to the latest development on the case. That is the judgement pronounced on 12th July granting Kejriwal interim bail for a second time.

On the legality of his arrest, the bench is looking into an additional ground for “need and necessity” of arrest under Section 19.

The court has now referred to a larger bench, the question of fixing parameters of the need and necessity of arrest as a larger bench will need more time to determine these parameters.

The court decided to release Kejriwal on interim bail. The judgement authored by Justice Khanna observed that Kejriwal was imprisoned for over 90 days, adding that the “right to life and liberty are sacrosanct.”

But the Delhi Chief Minister will not be released from jail. While the court has given him bail in the ED’s arrest, Kejriwal will continue to be in custody in the CBI’s case.

The bench pointedly stated that they would not comment on whether Kejriwal should resign from his role as the Delhi Chief Minister. A plea challenging the validity of his arrest by the CBI is now pending at the Delhi High Court.

Meanwhile, the challenge to the Delhi High Court stay on his bail order will come up before the Supreme Court. For developments in Arvind Kejriwal’s case and more stories from the Supreme Court of India, keep reading SCObserver.in.

Follow us on our social media platforms for regular updates. Thank you for watching. Until next time!