Excise policy case: Delhi court extends Kejriwal's custodial remand till April 1
Kejriwal conceded that he is ready to cooperate and he has no objection to being in custody, but "we oppose the grounds on which remand is being sought", said his lawyer
Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Thursday (March 28) extended the custodial remand of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1, though the Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted a plea, seeking a 7-day extension in the same.
The central agency told the court, “A CM is not above the law. Apart from his personal involvement, being the AAP convener, the money was used in the AAP’s Goa campaign and there are many statements regarding this.”
According to news agency ANI, ED, represented by ASG SV Raju, further submitted that Kejriwal's statements have been recorded, and he gave evasive replies. “He is deliberately not cooperating with us. He did not disclose the passwords, so we do not have access to digital data. He says he will speak to his lawyers and then decide whether the passwords are to be given or not. If he does not, we will have to break open the passwords,” said the ASG.
Meanwhile, his lawyer Ramesh Gupta said, “Kejriwal conceded that he is ready to cooperate and he has no objection to being in custody. We told the court that we oppose the grounds on which remand is being sought. The court will grant remand custody now that he has conceded before the court.”
On the other hand, Kejriwal said it was a political conspiracy and the people will give a befitting reply to it. He stated this while he was being brought to the courtroom in Rouse Avenue court at the end of his ED custody in the liquor policy case.
“It’s being alleged that there it was a Rs 100 cr scam...Justice Sanjiv Khanna said that the money trail is not yet traced...The motive of ED is to crush the Aam Aadmi Party,” submitted the Delhi CM before Rouse Avenue Court. He also pointed out that people are being turned “approver” in the case and they are being forced to change their statements. He also made a statement on the issue of electoral bonds and stated that the “BJP is getting money”. However, the ED opposed his statement.
In his statement before the court, he also said, “I was arrested, but no court has proved me guilty yet. CBI filed 31,000 pages and ED has filed 25,000 pages related to this matter. Even if you read them together, I would like to ask why I have been arrested. My name came to light only in statements of four people.” As per an ANI report, he wondered, “Are the four statements made by different people sufficient to arrest a sitting chief minister.”
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in the case on March 21 and subsequently he was sent to remand till March 28 by the court.
