Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal moved approached the Supreme Court on Wednesday, a day after the high court junked his petition challenging his arrest in the liquor policy case.
The Aam Aadmi Party supremo's counsel will raise the matter before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud around 10.30 am and seek an urgent hearing. Kejriwal was arrested after he skipped several ED summons.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court chastised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, who was claimed to be involved in money laundering in his "personal capacity" and in his capacity as the national convenor of the political party, for questioning the timing of his arrest and underlined that an investigation against the "classes and masses" cannot be different.
The court rebuked Kejriwal for "casting aspersions" on the judicial process with his claim about an approver making donations to the BJP through electoral bonds, saying the law relating to approvers was over 100 years old and not enacted to falsely implicate the politician.
With Kejriwal failing to get any reprieve from the high court, the AAP said he will appeal against the judgement in the Supreme Court. It said the excise policy case was the "biggest political conspiracy" to finish off the party.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed the AAP leader's petition and asserted that there was no contravention of legal provisions as the agency had enough material in its possession to nail him.
"Courts are concerned with constitutional morality and not political morality," she asserted.
"The material which has been encapsulated reveals that Sh. Arvind Kejriwal had allegedly conspired with other persons and was involved in the formulation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, in the process of demanding kickbacks from the South Group, as well as in generation, use and concealment of proceeds of crime," said the court in its 106-page order.
The court noted there are statements of witnesses, including approvers, which "reflect" that Kejriwal was "allegedly personally involved" in formulation of the excise policy and "prima-facie in process of demanding kickbacks from the South Group in exchange of favours".
"Material has also been collected by the Directorate of Enforcement, in the form of statements of witnesses of hawala operators, one candidate of AAP and some survey workers, area managers, assembly managers, who had worked with the AAP during the Goa Election 2022, along with WhatsApp chats between several persons, and other material collected through raids of Income Tax, which reflect that the kickbacks which were received from South Group were utilised by AAP for funding Goa Elections," added the bench.
It said since there is "prima-facie material" regarding laundering of the kickbacks for Goa elections, the recovery in the year 2024 or non-recovery of any remaining amount would become clear only after the chargesheet has been filed.
The court ruled that Kejriwal's arrest was not illegal and the trial court remanded him in the custody of the agency by a well-reasoned order.
"This court holds that arrest of Kejriwal was not in contravention of sections concerned. Consequently, his remand cannot be termed as illegal," Justice Sharma concluded.
She read out the judgement for 25 minutes and also explained certain portions of her decision in Hindi.
The court clarified that it was not dealing with Kejriwal's bail plea but his writ petition challenging the arrest on certain grounds.
The court also said nothing in its order shall tantamount to an expression of opinion on the merits of the case during trial.
It emphasised that law applied equally to all and also held that the rigours of Section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which deals with companies, are attracted in this case. The ED had likened AAP to a company and Kejriwal its director.
The court observed that political considerations and equations are not relevant to legal proceedings, clarifying that the present case was not a conflict between the Centre and Kejriwal but between him and the ED.
The court said the statements of approvers against the AAP national convenor would be judged during trial as it cannot hold a mini trial at this stage.
In his petition, Kejriwal had sought his release on several grounds, including that the belated statements of approvers Raghav Magunta and Sarath Reddy cannot be relied upon as the latter even donated to the BJP through electoral bonds.
Aurobindo Pharma purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 5 crore on November 15, 2022, five days after one of its directors, Reddy, was arrested in the excise case by the ED.
(With PTI inputs)
Also read | Raj Thackeray extends support to NDA in Lok Sabha polls
