HC dismisses Kejriwal's plea challenging CBI arrest in liquor policy scam

Arvind Kejriwal was first arrested in the case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in the case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.

Reacting to the order, the Aam Aadmi Party said it will move to the Supreme Court.

The plea was mentioned on Monday before the bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, which stated that the judgement would be pronounced at 2.30 pm.

The same bench had reserved its order on Kejriwal’s regular bail plea on July 29. Additionally, on July 17, the court reserved its order on Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the CBI in the same case.

During the July 29 hearing, the CBI opposed the Delhi CM’s plea and contended that its investigation could not have been done without Kejriwal’s arrest. On the same day, the agency also filed its final chargesheet in the case, naming Kejriwal, along with five others accused. The charge sheet did not name former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia. This was CBI’s fifth and final supplementary charge sheet. Besides Kejriwal, AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak, P Sarath Chandra Reddy, Vinod Chauhan, and businessmen Amit Arora and Ashish Mathur were named.

The CBI’s counsel D P Singh had argued that there was enough evidence to show that Kejriwal was the ‘mastermind’ of the alleged scam. Meanwhile, advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing on behalf of Kejriwal, labelled the CM’s arrest as “insurance arrest”.

Kejriwal was first arrested in the case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21. He was then arrested by the CBI on June 26 from Tihar jail while being in judicial custody.

The case pertains to the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy 2021-22. The policy was introduced in November 2021 and scrapped in September 2022 months after Delhi Lieutenant Governor, V K Saxena, recommended a CBI probe in the policy in May.