Delhi High Court to hear Arvind Kejriwal's plea against CBI arrest shortly

Arvind Kejriwal in his plea said that no new evidence or justification for his arrest has been presented by the CBI in their arrest memo or grounds of arrest.

In Short

• Arvind Kejriwal contests lack of new evidence for arrest by CBI
• Claims CBI's allegations already in its previous chargesheets
• High Court hearing scheduled for Tuesday

The Delhi High Court is set to hear a plea filed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) recent arrest warrant. The matter will be heard by a bench presided over by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna on Tuesday.

Arvind Kejriwal, in his plea before the High Court, raised several crucial points contesting his arrest by the CBI:

• He asserted that he was summoned by the CBI over a year ago merely as a witness and emphasised that no new evidence or justification for his arrest has been presented by the CBI in their arrest memo or grounds of arrest.
• Kejriwal said that even during his judicial custody, the CBI failed to provide any new material supporting his arrest, noting that all allegations mentioned were already part of previous CBI chargesheets.
• The plea said that the claims made by the CBI in the remand application were part of the chargesheet filed by the agency earlier.
• He pointed out the lack of justification in the arrest memo for his detention after two years of investigation.

Kejriwal referenced statements made by the Solicitor General (SG) before the Supreme Court in June, where assurance was given regarding the timely filing of the final chargesheet by July 3. He emphasised that during the bail proceedings of his co-accused Manish Sisodia on June 4, the SG explicitly stated that the investigation was nearing its conclusion and no fresh arrests were anticipated.

The plea mentions that the SG’s statement does not in any manner refer to making any fresh arrest. Had that been the situation, such assurances would have never been made, the plea added.

Arvind Kejriwal’s plea further mentions that the CBI, despite getting the sanction on April 23, chose not to arrest him and then subsequently made a statement before the Supreme Court from which it was clearly inferred that no further fresh arrest would be made as the investigation is not ongoing but near conclusion.

The CBI arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case on June 26. The CBI’s arrest comes months after the Enforcement Directorate arrested Kejriwal in a money laundering case stemming from the liquor policy scam on March 21.