Arvind Kejriwal tells Delhi High Court his arrest is based on statements of approver-Jaichands

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal highlighted before the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that his arrest in the money laundering case connected to Delhi Excise policy case was based on statements by accused persons who later turned approvers and that there was no other evidence against him [Arvind Kejriwal v Directorate of Enforcement]..Kejriwal's counsel Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi likened such approvers to a Trojan horse and drew comparisons with medieval king Jaichand, who is said to have betrayed Indian rulers by allying with Ghurid invaders."This species called approver... In our history, whether for good motives or bad motives, the courts have dealt with phrases like Jaichand and Trojan Horses. The history looks very harshly at these Jaichand and Trojan horses. They gave daga (betrayal)," Singhvi said.An approver is the most untrustworthy friend, he added. Singhvi elaborated on this remark by saying that Kejriwal was arrested based on statements of persons who were earlier arrested in the case and later got bail after turning approver."Record the statement of (accused). There is nothing against me in that step. Next step is to arrest the person. He suffers in jail and is then made to apply for bail. Next step the ASG tells the court ED has no opposition to bail. The reason cited is he (arrested person) has back pain. The next step is he comes out and makes a statement against me. Next he turns approver. This has happened in every case in the liquor policy case. It is blowing to smithereens the constitutional safeguards," the Senior Advocate alleged.There is no corroboration for any of such statements, Singhvi underscored..In this regard, Singhvi also highlighted the statements made by two - Raghav Magunta's father and Sarath Chandra Reddy. As regards Raghav Magunta, Singhvi said,"He is tortured.. Father makes a statement and son gets the bail. What is the point of such statements?"Regarding Sarath Chandra Reddy, he said,"There are two statements which are not against me. Now comes the statement after arrest. He continues to maintain his stance (which is) not against me in nine statements. These nine statements are not out in six of the prosecution complaints. It is suppressed and they are making a mockery of the procedure. He then starts singing.. eighteen months later. Then nine days after the statement against me, he gets bail on medical grounds and twenty days later he gets pardoned.".The submissions were made while arguing a plea filed by Kejriwal challenging his arrest by the agency in the Delhi Excise Policy case and his remand to ED custody by the trial courtSingle-judge Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said that she will pass order in the matter at 4 PM today. .The Court also said that it was inclined to issue notice in the matter to ED but that there was a lack of clarity on whether the Court would pass any order today on the aspect of interim relief as well."I will issue notice on the matter. I have to seek a reply on the matter. On the interim relief, I will give a very short date," the Court initially said.Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for ED, sought time to file the probe agency's response."It is a bulky petition. We want to file a detailed reply. On the main matter we be given three weeks and on the interim application we must be given a reasonable time to file our reply," the ASG said."Order at 4 PM. I will upload the order," Justice Sharma replied..Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21. On March 22, Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court remanded him to ED custody till March 28.The ED has claimed that Kejriwal was a key conspirator in the Delhi Excise Policy scam case..The ED's money laundering probe in the matter stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 17, 2022 in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22. The CBI case was registered on a complaint made by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on July 20, 2022. It has been alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by AAP leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other unidentified and unnamed private persons/ entities at the stage of the policy’s formulation.The conspiracy, it has been alleged, involved loopholes “intentionally” left or created in the policy. These loopholes were allegedly meant to favour some liquor licensees and conspirators post the tender process..Kejriwal in his plea before the High Court said that the Central government was misusing PMLA to create a non-level playing field for the impending the general elections scheduled to be held from April 19, 2024 and to skew the electoral process in the favour of the ruling party at the Centre that controls the ED through the Ministry of Finance. It has been contended that Kejriwal was arrested for his role as a vocal critic of the ruling party and his role as an opposition leader and a partner of the INDIA political alliance in contesting general election. .Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, today pointed out that the remand to ED custody would end tomorrow. He, therefore, said that there should be an urgent hearing on the question of interim relief. "I have challenged the remand that ends tomorrow. I am asking the ladyship to decide the basis of the remand. That requires no reply from anyone. This delaying tactics, I am asking my ladyships to decide it today. There are weighty reasons why a matter which challenges the foundation of the remand requires a hearing today. It is my ladyship's prerogative to allow it or deny it. My ladyship may take a call on that. Therefore, there is no question of reply," Singhvi said.Pertinently, Singhvi contended that the case was not just a criminal law matter but involved larger Constitutional issues since it involved the arrest of a sitting Chief Minister just before Lok Sabha elections."The first point is although this is matter in realm of criminal law, this actually is a vital matter because it impinged directly on the basic structure... A sitting CM who is arrested a week ago, on the cusp of election.. The heart of democracy is level playing field. It means free and fair elections. Of course CMs can be arrested but the question is timing," he argued.Singhvi contended that the arrest was made with the object of disabling the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) right before the elections."The first summons was in October 2023 and the last one was on March 16. Six months passed. In these six months, no Section 50 PMLA statement was recorded. The arrest happened without any Section 50 statement. Your lordships have repeatedly said that Section 50 statement is form of an inquiry. Here, no such thing has happened. Why are you doing it now? There is no material from inquiry... Your object is to disable me and my party politically," he said..He added that an arrest cannot be based on non-cooperation with the probe agency since it will be hit by the right against self-incrimination"They say I have not cooperated. Non cooperation is one of the most abused phrases since the ED has become active. Can you say I will arrest you because I am exercising my right against self-incrimination? This will hit Articles 20 and 21 of the Constitution. Suppose I say, I don't know or that I have very poor memory... Which law says I am arresting you because you are not incriminating yourself?" Singhvi argued..The ED cannot claim that it wants to have a custodial interrogation right before elections by citing non-cooperation, Singhvi further contended. "The custodial interrogation is based on non-cooperation. They say he is to be interrogated with respect to his role. I say if you want to investigate me for my role two months before the election, is it not directly against the necessity to arrest?" he asked. Singhvi said that they could have given Kejriwal a questionnaire or interrogated him via video conference."We have said give me any questionnaire... give me VC... What is it that needs his arrest and what cannot be done without his arrest?" Singhvi asked. Regarding the claim that Kejriwal could tamper with evidence, the senior counsel added, "They say I may tamper... I could have tampered already.".ASG SV Raju, meanwhile, said that he should be allowed time to file a reply on the plea for interim relief as well."I said in the beginning that I will issue notice on the main matter. I will deal with the plea for release today," said Justice Sharma."On interim relief also, I have the right to file a reply.. if I am not entitled to file a reply then there is no need to hear me. I can't be deprived of my right to file a reply," the ASG responded."I have said I will give you time to file reply. What about interim plea?," the Court pressed."I am saying i will file reply even on the interim," Raju maintained..He further said that he got the petition copy only on Tuesday afternoon.Kejriwal's counsel said that the plea was filed on Saturday and that it was supplied to the ED as soon as the defects pointed out by the registry were cleared."We wrote emails to them asking for a copy on 25 and 26 March. They deliberately did not supply the petition to us. They could have supplied the copy to us with objections (of registry). The reason they did not supply is because they did not want us to prepare," the ASG responded."How could we know what defects will be marked? The practice in this court is that petition is supplied when the defects are cleared," Kejriwal's counsel replied.The ASG said that he would need at least two weeks to file a response. The Court eventually said it will pass an order at 4 PM today..Sisodia and AAP Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh are already behind bars in the same case.On March 15, the ED also arrested the daughter of Bharat Rashtra Samiti legislator and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, K Kavitha in the case.