Chief Minister not immune but...Arvind Kejriwal to Supreme Court

Although a Chief Minister is not immune from prosecution, his rights are not inferior to the rights of any other person, counsel for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal argued before the Supreme Court today while challenging his arrest and remand in the Delhi Excise Policy case [Arvind Kejriwal v. Directorate of Enforcement]..A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta heard arguments made on behalf of Kejriwal by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, before posting the matter for hearing further arguments tomorrow. .Kejriwal had challenged his arrest and remand before the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea in the matter..Singhvi today maintained that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was illegal from the get go, citing Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).Among other arguments, Singhvi also made submissions on Kejriwal's contentions regarding the suspect timing of his arrest in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections 2024. "Your (ED's) power to arrest is not an obligation to arrest. There must be reason to believe (that arrest is required). This arrest was when Model Code of Conduct is in place...There has to be some new material.. or a link which connects me directly or something...In statements there is no mention against me. This person (a witness) makes this one statement in July last year...The person gets bail two weeks later and I am arrested in March this year.".Replying to an ED argument, Singhvi went on to assert that while Kejriwal does not have any superior rights as a Chief Minister, his rights are not any less than that of other people.Notably, the ED had earlier submitted that Kejriwal cannot be treated differently from any other criminal on the ground that he is a politician and doing so would be arbitrary and in violation of the principle of right to equality enshrined under Article 14 of the Constitution."Chief Minister does not have immunity, but does he have lesser rights than a common citizen?" Singhvi argued today..The senior counsel added that it was of utmost importance that the prosecution maintains fairness while pursuing the Delhi Excise Policy case. The lack of fairness shown by the prosecution towards Kejriwal is sufficient to order his release from jail, Singhvi argued. He told the Court that the ED has relied on some statements to proceed against Kejriwal, while ignoring other statements that do not incriminate him."We are down to fair prosecution...There is no corroboration, so they ignored 10 statements and picked up one. In criminal law, my lords know, without corroboration, you cannot establish guilt," Singhvi contended.Five statements made against Kejriwal were also dated, suggesting that there was no imminent threat or necessity to arrest him in March, Singhvi said. "What are the dates of these five statements? Starting from December 2022 and ending in July 2023! Only talking about inculpatory statements - why did they then arrest in March 2024? What is the imminent (threat)?" Singhvi argued. "They (ED) have said you ignored the notices and did not comply and they had no option (but to arrest)," Justice Khanna observed.Singhvi, however, replied that these were fake reasons and could not be grounds to arrest Kejriwal. "I recorded a statement before CBI on April 16 (2023). You keep sending me coercive notices, which I reply in detail. I said my response can be through VC. Are you helpless? There was no material to arrest me. It was my right not to go. Not coming (after summons) can be reason or grounds for arrest? It is a fake reason...Can you say, that 'since you did not cooperate, therefore I arrest you?'...Non-cooperation can never be a ground for arrest," he argued..The Court briefly queried whether Singhvi was contradicting himself through his submissions. "Are you not contradicting yourself? You say Section 50 PMLA statement was not recorded, but you did not appear," Justice Khanna remarked. Singhvi replied that the absence of a Section 50 statement is not a ground to assume that a person is guilty. "You have got no Section 50 statement - that is not a defence to arrest me by having reason to believe guilt...I am saying other material also does not establish my guilt (to warrant arrest)," Singhvi said. .The matter will be heard again tomorrow. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appeared for the ED today. .The ED’s money laundering probe against Kejriwal stems from a case registered by the 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 Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other unidentified and unnamed private persons/entities during the stage of the policy’s formulation.The conspiracy, it has been alleged, stemmed from some of the loopholes “intentionally” left or created in the policy. These were allegedly meant to favour some licensees and conspirators post the tender process.Several AAP leaders including former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh were arrested by the ED in connection with the case.Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21and is presently lodged in Tihar Jail..What Arvind Kejriwal has told Supreme Court in his latest affidavit .[Read live coverage of the hearing today]

Chief Minister not immune but...Arvind Kejriwal to Supreme Court

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