The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a day after questioning him in Tihar jail in the excise policy case. The agency was given three-day custody of Kejriwal by vacation Judge Amitabh Rawat for interrogation in the excise case.
The CBI’s arrest comes on a day when the Supreme Court was to hear Kejriwal’s bail application in the same case probed by the Enforcement Directorate. AAP Convenor Kejriwal, however, withdrew his petition from the Supreme Court challenging a stay Delhi High Court ordered on Tuesday on grant of bail by the trial court, following his arrest in March this year in the same case probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
The CBI is working towards concluding the investigation in the liquor policy case, in which the sleuths have already filed four charge sheets against 17 accused persons. The CBI arrested Kejriwal inside Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court, where he was produced in compliance of a production warrant issued against him by the vacation bench Judge Amitab Rawat. Judge Amitabh Rawat asked the agency to place material record for his arrest in the case. Though the CBI wanted five days of custody, the court agreed to only three days, and asked the agency to produce the Delhi CM on Saturday.
Kejriwal told the court, “It is being shown in the media, citing CBI sources, that I have put the entire blame on Manish Sisodia in a statement. I have not given any statement that Sisodia is guilty or anyone else is guilty. I have said Sisodia is innocent, AAP is innocent, I am innocent.” “Their entire plan is to defame us in front of the media. Please record that all these have been run in media through CBI sources,” he stressed.
He also charged the CBI with trying to sensationalise the case. “It needs to be clarified. This will be the top headline in all the newspapers. They aim to sensationalise the matter,” the AAP leader said. However, the CBI countered the allegations and said they argued the case on facts and evidence.
To that, the Judge said that the media picks up one line and “it is very difficult to control” them.
Kejriwal, meanwhile, was brought out of the courtroom to nearby Ahlmad’s room for tea and biscuits after his sugar level dropped. Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, AAP leader Sanjay Singh and Dilip Pandey were present in the court.
During the hearing in the Rouse Avenue Court, Kejriwal’s lawyers said CBI’s move to arrest the Delhi CM at this point showed the “most biased manner” in which the agency acted. Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari questioned the CBI decision on the grounds that it had already quizzed Kejriwal for nine hours in April last year.
Kejriwal was till then not made an accused in the case.
“It is a poor citizen Vs might of the State. This case is pending since August 2022. I was called as a witness... I appeared and, for nine hours, I assisted. Not a single notice (from the CBI) since then. How did they shift from a witness to an accused... it is a long distance to cover,” Chaudhuri argued.
Kejriwal sought the hearing to be deferred by a day so he could study the CBI’s case.
The CBI responded by stating that these are “unnecessary allegations”. CBI Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh said, “We could have done this before, or even during, the election. We did not... it (the interrogation) was done only after the court’s permission”.
The federal investigation agency also rebuffed the accused’s contention by insisting that it was under no obligation to announce the start of an investigation against Kejriwal. “Suppose there is an inquiry... I don’t have to tell (Mr Kejriwal)... Who I have to tell is to the court - that I need custody. There is no mandate, I have to tell the other side about my desire to investigate,” the CBI counsel said in the court