Kejriwal to remain in ED custody till April 1

A court in New Delhi on Thursday extended the Enforcement Directorate custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1 in the excise policy case.

The agency sought seven-day custody of the Aam Aadmi Party chief, but the court said he has to be produced before it on April 1 at 11 am.

The ED had produced him before Rouse Avenue court Special Judge Kaveri Baweja as his current six-day custody was ending on Thursday.

The ED said in its fresh remand plea that during Kejriwal's custodial interrogation, his statements were recorded over five days but he was 'giving evasive replies'.

It said statements of three other persons relevant to the case have also been recorded during the remand period.

It said that during the ED custody, Kejriwal was confronted with C Arvind, the then personal secretary to deputy CM Manish Sisodia who was handed over the draft Group of Ministers (GoM) report for the 2021-22 excise policy at the residence of the chief minister.

It said the statement of one of the AAP candidates in the 2022 Goa elections was also recorded during Kejriwal's ED custody.

It revealed that the candidate did not have any money and his election expenditure was 'taken care of by the AAP Office Delhi only through their associates'.

The plea said that during the custody, data from the mobile phone of the chief minister's wife have been extracted and were being analysed.

'However, data from other four digital devices seized during the search at Kejriwal's premises on March 21 (belonging to Kejriwal) are yet to be extracted as the arrestee (Kejriwal) has sought time in providing password and login credentials after consulting with his lawyers,' it said.

The application said the movable and immovable property details, income tax returns (ITRs), and other financial details sought from Kejriwal were yet to be provided by the chief minister, or his family members.

The federal probe agency said it had sought the details regarding the appointments made with the chief minister in the online portal in his office.

It said the during the interrogation, summonses were issued to senior excise officials in Punjab who were 'involved in the arm-twisting of certain (liquor) wholesalers of Delhi'.

The agency said that when the demand for bribes was not fulfilled, these officials either shut down their factories or did not allow the wholesalers to despatch their goods to Punjab.

The plea said the officials concerned sought time on the summonses, citing the hooch tragedy in Sangrur.

'The arrestee needs to be interrogated further in the wake of these reasons or findings. Hence, it is imperative in the interest of investigation that seven days' further custodial remand of Arvind Kejriwal may be granted to the Directorate of Enforcement,' the plea said.