'Kejriwal has outlived his utility for the BJP'

'The BJP was supporting him from behind in order to bring down the Congress government.'

Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan has known Arvind Kejriwal since they came together as part of the India Against Corruption movement which was spearheaded by social activist Kisan Baburao 'Anna' Hazare in 2012 to establish the Jan Lokpal, an ombudsman to hear high profile political corruption cases.

While Kejriwal founded the Aam Aadmi Party and won elections as Delhi chief minister, Bhushan and Kejriwal fell apart due to their differences over how the AAP was run by Kejriwal.

"They want to cripple the Opposition. That's why they are trying to harass people in the Opposition that either they join the BJP or they will be arrested," Bhushan tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com in the aftermath of Kejriwal's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.

You have known Arvind Kejriwal from close quarters since your India Against Corruption days. Do you believe he could be corrupt?

I can't say about that. I mean earlier (when we were part of the IAC) I didn't think he would be (corrupt), but later (after he founded the AAP, contested elections and became Delhi chief minister) I'm not so sure.

But the evidence that they (Enforcement Directorate) have is oral evidence. There is nothing material in it. (Kejriwal's lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi has argued that there is no direct evidence with the ED against Kejriwal and that he was arrested merely on the statement of an approver who said 'I met Mr Kejriwal' in the context of the alleged Rs 100 crore Delhi excise policy case).

But this (the statement by an approver) is not a ground for arresting him.

But the fact is the ED has still arrested him and is opposing his bail plea. What kind of legal options does Kejriwal have now?

They should apply for bail and one of the grounds for bail should be this (that arrests cannot happen on the statement of a prosecution approver) only. The other ground is that it (Kejriwal's arrest) is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

Why did Arvind Kejriwal's legal team withdraw his bail plea before the Supreme Court?

It went before the bench of (Justice) Bela Trivedi (Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice M M Sundresh). One knows about her attitude in these matters. There was no point in taking it before this bench.

Now, he will be produced in a regional court, where he will ask for bail. He has asked for bail. They have reserved judgment, so let's see what they do.

What evidentiary value does the statement of an approver have, especially someone who has himself been in thick of the electoral bond scheme when he donated Rs 5 crore to the BJP just five days after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in November 2022 and later his company donated electoral bonds worth Rs 25 crore in August 2023, just two months after he became an approver?

Not much.

But still the ED's arrest is based on this particular piece of so-called evidence...

In my view this evidence (of approver P Sarath Reddy of Aurobindo Pharma against Arvind Kejriwal) is very weak. What was the need to arrest Arvind Kejriwal?

You arrest a person only if there is fear that he will flee during investigation or during trial. Or, you arrest him if you feel that he will tamper with evidence.

Now this has been going on for a long time (the ED has been trying to get Arvind Kejriwal's custody in the now scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-2022) and there is no proof to show that he has tried to tamper with the evidence.

You arrest him if you feel he has committed a very heinous offence and he will repeat that offence. None of those conditions make themselves present (for the ED to have arrested Kejriwal).

Two sitting chief ministers -- Hemant Soren of Jharkhand and Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi -- have been arrested by the ED under the PMLA close on the heels of an important general election.
What do you think is the BJP's game plan and what endgame are they trying to achieve through such arrests?

They want to cripple the Opposition. That's why they are trying to harass people in the Opposition that either they join the BJP or they will be arrested.

Can the BJP finish the Aam Aadmi Party by arresting Arvind Kejriwal?

They are trying to cripple it and just show their dadagiri that they can get away with anything. They want to show that they can do anything and get away with.

Do you think the BJP will bear the political brunt of Arvind Kejriwal's arrest in the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi where six seats are at stake?

I think so.

India Against Corruption was spawned by Arvind Kejriwal with the support of the BJP. How did they fall out? What went wrong?

The BJP was supporting him from behind in order to bring down the Congress government. Now that he has outlived his utility (they plan to finish him off politically).