Digital Report: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a leading opposition leader, was arrested tonight in connection with graft allegations relating to the city’s liquor policy, official sources said.
His arrest came hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, any protection from coercive action by the Enforcement Directorate in the case.
He is the first serving chief mister to be arrested.
India’s top financial agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), is investigating allegations that a liquor policy implemented by the Delhi government in 2022, which ended its control over the sale of liquor in the capital, gave undue advantages to private retailers. The policy was subsequently withdrawn.
Two more AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh have already been arrested in connection with the case.
Kejriwal’s name has been mentioned multiple times in the charge sheets filed by ED which has alleged the other 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 AAP.
Earlier in the day, a Delhi High Court bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain refused to grant Kejriwal any protection from coercive action in the case.
The bench listed the AAP leader’s application for further consideration on April 22 when his main petition challenging the ED’s summons is fixed for hearing, and asked the Enforcement Directorate to file its response.
“We have heard both sides and we are not inclined at this stage (to grant protection). The respondent is at liberty to file a reply,” the high court bench said.
Kejriwal has moved the Delhi High Court in the wake of ED’s latest summons, the ninth issued by the anti-money laundering probe agency, asking him to appear before it on Thursday.
The Delhi chief minister has repeatedly refused to appear before the federal anti-money laundering agency, calling the summonses illegal.
His arrest is seen as a setback for the opposition as it seeks to oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government in the upcoming national elections in India.
