Indian oppositon leader Kejriwal’s custody extended, questions legitimacy of his arrest

DELHI: Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi in a verdict announced today extended custody of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal by four days. Judge Kaveri Baweja heard the plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking a 7-day extension of Kejriwal’s custody remand.

Special Judge Baweja passed the order and directed authorities to produce Kejriwal before the court on April 1 at 11:30 am. ED produced the Delhi Chief Minister before the Court today, which is the last day of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo’s custody with the agency.

Aam Aadmi Party chief and India’s Opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday addressed the Rouse Avenue Court where he questioned the legitimacy of his arrest by the federal agency.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in his statement before the court said, Why have you arrested me?

In response, the ED representative Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, said, we have a statement against you. “So if I say I gave 100 crores to Modi and Amit Shah, will you go and arrest them based on my statement?” Kejriwal replied.

Upon his response, the Special Judge of Rouse Avenure court and ASG both went quiet. Meanwhile, the High Court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) that sought the removal of Kejriwal and the prevention of issuing orders while being in ED custody, saying that it is a violation of the legal framework as well as against the principle of fair investigation.

READ MORE: Delhi CM Kerjriwal arrested in graft case ahead of elections

“I was arrested, but no court has proven me guilty yet. CBI filed 31,000 pages and ED has filed 25,000 pages related to this matter. Even if you read them together, I would like to ask why have I been arrested,” Kejriwal asked.

Furthermore, he asked, “My name came to light only in four statements of four people. Are these four statements made by different people sufficient to arrest a sitting Chief Minister?” Additionally, he added, “You may keep me in remand as long as you like… I am ready for investigation.”

Meanwhile, the ED said, “He has not disclosed the passwords so we do not have access to digital data. He says he will speak to his lawyers and then decide whether the passwords are to be given or not. If he does not we will have to break open the passwords.

“When Kejriwal’s lawyers said before the court that the arrest by ED was illegal and unconstitutional and there was no evidence against him, the agency had no answer to this,” AAP leader Atishi said at a press conference.

The party’s response came after the HC on Wednesday gave no relief to Kejriwal and granted ED time to file a reply on the Delhi CM’s interim plea seeking release from the agency’s custody. His party claimed that the federal agency had no reply to the questions raised by the Delhi chief minister’s lawyers in the High Court over his arrest.