Five reasons why Delhi High Court upheld arrest of Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that the material collected by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reveals that Delhi Chief Minister Minister Arvind Kejriwal was actively involved in the concealment of proceeds of crime in the money laundering case connected to the Delhi Excise Policy matter..While rejecting Kejriwal's plea against his arrest by the ED, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dealt with various arguments in detail.Here are five reasons the judge gave for upholding the arrest of the Delhi CM. .1. Active involvement in use of proceeds of crime"The material collected by ED reveals Mr Arvind Kejriwal conspired and was actively involved in use and concealment of proceeds of crime. The ED case also reveals that he was involved in his personal capacity as well as convenor of AAP."It also observed that there was evidence to show that the money or proceeds of crime were used for political campaigning in the 2022 Goa legislative assembly elections..2. Approvers' statementsKejriwal had questioned the statements of accused turned approvers which he claimed was the only evidence put forth by ED against him.Dealing with the argument in detail, the Court remarked that the law with regard to approvers in a prosecution has been in existence for over 100 years, and is not one year old."To cast doubt on the manner of recording statement of approver would amount to casting aspersions on the Court and judge."It cannot be suggested that the law was enacted to implicate Kejriwal, the Court said. .3. Electoral bonds linkThe Court today also dealt with the allegation that two of the approvers, who have made statements against Kejriwal, are linked to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). Out of three statements connecting Kejriwal to the alleged kickbacks in the case, two were of businessman Sarath Chandra Reddy and his father Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, the Lok Sabha candidate for the Telugu Desam Party, a BJP ally.Kejriwal's counsel had questioned the reliability of Reddy's statement, given that his company Aurobindo Pharma, had paid crores of rupees to the BJP through electoral bonds."In this court's opinion, who gives tickets to contesting elections to whom or who purchases electoral bonds for what purpose is not the concern of this court as this court is required to apply the law and the evidence before it as it is and in the context in which it has been placed on record," Justice Sharma said..4. Timing of arrest by EDThe Court also rejected Kejriwal's argument questioning his arrest just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections."This Court is of the opinion that the accused has been arrested and his arrest and remand has to be examined as per law and not as per timing of elections," it said..5. Political vendetta irrelevantOn the allegations that Kejriwal had been arrested because of a political vendetta by the Central government, the Court said,"Political considerations cannot be brought before the Court as they are not relevant...The Court must remain vigilant that it is not influenced by any extraneous factors."The judge also remarked that the Court was concerned with constitutional morality, and not political morality..[Read Judgement].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.