Denied HC relief on arrest, Kejriwal to move SC

Failing to get any reprieve from the Delhi high court, the Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will move the Supreme Court soon against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate and maintained the excise policy case was the 'biggest political conspiracy of the country' to finish the party.

Hitting out at the AAP supremo after the high court dismissed Kejriwal's petition challenging his arrest, the Bharatiya Janata Party said the movement which began with the Indian Against Corruption stir has now turned into 'Kejri Corruption Kranti' and asked if he is now left with any moral right to continue while he remains under arrest.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said they are hopeful the Supreme Court will provide relief to Kejriwal in the same way it granted bail to AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh recently.

"We respect the institution of the high court but we respectfully submit that we do not agree with its order and will move the Supreme Court against it," Bharadwaj told a press conference.

"The so-called excise policy scam is the biggest political conspiracy to finish off the party and Kejriwal," he alleged.

Asked when Kejriwal will challenge the high court order, a senior party leader replied: "He will do it at the earliest."

The high court dismissed Kejriwal's petition, saying there was no contravention of legal provisions.

The court asserted that no 'special privileges' can be extended to a chief minister by an investigating agency and political considerations are not relevant to the legal process.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma rejected the AAP leader's arguments of 'timing' of his arrest and the ED's 'mala fide' intent, remarking that a probe cannot be conducted as per the 'convenience' or 'dictates' of a person and investigation against 'classes' and 'masses' cannot be different.

Talking to reporters, Bharadwaj claimed both the ED and the CBI have failed to recover even one rupee of illegal money in the case.

"The entire matter is not related to money laundering, rather it's the biggest political conspiracy of the country. It's a conspiracy to crush and finish off Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab," he said.

AAP leader Jasmine Shah, who also addressed the presser, said, "The investigation has been going on for two years but not even a single penny has been recovered. But what happens? You arrest top leaders of a national party and put them in jail as part of a conspiracy."

BJP's national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the court's decision has smashed the arrogance of the AAP.

The agitation which began with the India Against Corruption movement, he said in a reference to the anti-graft campaign spearheaded by social activist Anna Hazare in which Kejriwal played a critical role, has now turned into 'Kejri Corruption Kranti'.

Then an activist, Kejriwal rode the popular traction that the movement gathered to enter politics and swept to power in the national capital later, projecting himself as an outsider and a common man who kept away from the trappings of power.

Trivedi said, "Indian politics has probably never seen such a fall in a decade."

On his part, AAP MP Sanjay Singh, who is in Chandigarh, expressed hope that the party supremo would get relief from the Supreme Court in the matter and termed the money laundering case against Kejriwal as the 'biggest conspiracy'.

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, "The AAP has been claiming that no money trail has been found, while the court clarified that a money trail has been discovered and was spent in the preparations of elections.

"Now, the only question that arises is whether it is morally correct for Arvind Kejriwal to run the government from Tihar Jail?"

The matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency.

He was sent to judicial custody on April 1 after he was produced in the trial court on the expiry of his ED custody. He is currently lodged in Tihar jail.