Setback for Arvind Kejriwal as CBI now arrests him in excise policy case

New Delhi: In mounting troubles for the AAP chief, the CBI on Wednesday arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is already in judicial custody, in the excise policy case after securing permission from a court here.

This came a day after the Delhi High Court stayed the bail granted to Kejriwal in the money laundering case linked to the excise policy scam investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed Kejriwal to withdraw his plea challenging the High Court's interim stay after it regularised the stay.

The CBI recorded Kejriwal's arrest after Special Judge Amitabh Rawat passed the order on an application moved by the agency after the AAP leader was produced before the court from Tihar Jail.

Later in the day, a Delhi court sent Kejriwal to three-day custody of the CBI. Kejriwal, who addressed the court in person, denied having given any statement that would put the “entire blame” for the alleged liquor policy scam on former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. The CBI accused Kejriwal of making "unnecessary allegation of malice".

“We will answer every atrocity of the dictator with revolution. Today when BJP felt that Delhi's son Arvind Kejriwal might get bail from the Supreme Court, they again hatched a conspiracy to get Chief Minister Kejriwal arrested by CBI in a fake case. Every conspiracy of BJP will be answered, truth will win in the end,” AAP posted on ‘X’.

On Tuesday, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh claimed that the ruling BJP has hatched a conspiracy with CBI officers to frame Kejriwal in a "fake case".

In a video message on X, Singh said, "we have learnt from reliable sources that the BJP-led Centre has hatched a conspiracy with CBI officers at a time when there is a huge possibility of Kejriwal getting bail from the Supreme Court. They have planned to frame him in a fake case by the CBI and get him arrested."

"The entire country is watching the atrocities of the BJP. How will one get justice in such circumstances? People will stand up against this," the AAP Rajya Sabha floor leader said.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 by the ED and a court here had granted regular bail on June 20. However after the ED filed a plea, the High Court initially stayed the bail for "two-three days" to deliver the order and on Tuesday, it stayed the bail order. Kejriwal, in between, approached the High Court against the interim bail.

The Delhi Chief Minister was not named in the CBI FIR registered in August 2022 though he was questioned for around nine hours in April last year.