On Wednesday, a Delhi Court dismissed an application filed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently in judicial custody in connection with a liquor policy case. Kejriwal had sought permission to increase the number of weekly meetings with his lawyers from two to five.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja noted that Kejriwal was not fully utilizing the two legal meetings per week permitted to him for discussing his pending legal matters. Instead, the judge observed that Kejriwal had used this time for purposes other than legal discussions, including dictating directions to one of his lawyers regarding the Water Minister during a legal meeting.
The court stated, “It thus appears that the Applicant is not even utilizing the permitted two legal interviews per week with his counsels solely for discussing his pending litigations and has rather used the allotted time for purposes other than legal interviews in the aforesaid manner.” Based on these observations, the court dismissed Kejriwal’s application seeking permission for additional legal meetings.
Kejriwal was arrested on the night of March 21 and subsequently remanded to six days of Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody, which was extended by a further four days. On April 1, he was remanded to judicial custody until April 15.
In related legal proceedings, the Delhi High Court recently dismissed Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest in a money laundering case. Subsequently, Kejriwal moved the Supreme Court to contest the High Court’s decision.
Kejriwal had skipped nine summons issued to him by the ED. Aam Aadmi Party leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are also accused in the case. While Sisodia remains in judicial custody, Singh was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court.
Following his arrest, Kejriwal promptly moved an urgent petition before the Supreme Court challenging his arrest, which was later withdrawn. Additionally, Kejriwal has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court (division bench) challenging the summons issued by the central probe agency and has sought interim protection. The matter is scheduled for hearing on April 22.
The ED alleges that the excise policy was part of a conspiracy to provide a 12 percent wholesale business profit to certain private companies, even though such a stipulation was not mentioned in the minutes of meetings of the Group of Ministers (GoM).
The central agency also claims that there was a conspiracy coordinated by Vijay Nair and other individuals, along with the South Group, to provide extraordinary profit margins to wholesalers.
According to the agency, Nair acted on behalf of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia.
