HC to hear Kejriwal's challenge to arrest in excise policy case on March 27

The Delhi High Court will on Wednesday hear a petition by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam.

Kejriwal's petition, which has sought his immediate release on account of the arrest and the subsequent remand to ED being "illegal", is listed for hearing before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma at 10.30 am.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener was arrested on March 21 and subsequently remanded to the ED's custody till March 28 by a Delhi court.

Kejriwal had moved the high court last week with his petition but according to highly-placed sources, his request for an urgent hearing was turned down as the high court was closed for Holi.

On Friday, the trial court had remanded Kejriwal in the ED's custody till March 28 "for his detailed and sustained interrogation".

The ED arrested Kejriwal hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency.

Kejriwal had earlier approached the court for quashing and setting aside all proceedings, including summonses, issued against him.

In that petition, Kejriwal had said he is a "vocal critic" of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre, he is an opposition leader and a partner in the INDIA bloc, and the ED, which is under the Union government's control, has been "weaponised".

The case pertains to the alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 that was later scrapped.

Top AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the case.

Kejriwal's name has been mentioned multiple times in the chargesheets filed by the ED.

The agency has alleged that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal for formulating the excise policy that resulted in undue benefits to them in return for which they paid kickbacks to the AAP.