Arvind Kejriwal sent to judicial custody till 12 July in excise policy case

An Indian court today (29 June) sent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody for 14 days (till 12 July) in connection with corruption charges pertaining to alleged irregularities in the 2021-22 excise policy.

Kejriwal was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 26 in connection with the case. He was sent to CBI custody for three days.

At the time of his arrest, Kejriwal was already in judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhary, representing Kejriwal, told the court that the investigation in the case has been going on since 2022.

"Kejriwal was arrested in March 2024. He was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court. On the last date of the hearing, they (CBI) had said that they collected evidence in January, they said that they had in April obtained the sanctions. They also said that they had not arrested me earlier because they did not want to overreach the Supreme Court," Chaudhary told the court.

Chaudhary also sought the court to direct the CBI to place all the material on record.

"They (CBI) have also made a statement before the Supreme Court that they will conclude the investigation by 3 July...I am praying please ask the IO (Investigation officer) that whatever they are saying, your lordships may pin them down," he added.

The CBI has filed four charge sheets in the case against 17 accused persons, including Manish Sisodia and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha.

Kejriwal has not been named in any of the indictments yet. They claim that out of ₹100 crore received by AAP as kickbacks, ₹44.45 crore was transferred to Goa during June 2021 to January 2022 through "hawala channels" for election campaign purposes.