Delhi excise policy case: As CBI arrests Kejriwal, how is this case different from that of ED's?

On June 26, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Arvind Kejriwal and a Delhi court granted the central agency a three-day judicial custody of the Delhi Chief Minister.

The arrest came ahead of Kejriwal's bail hearing in the Supreme Court. The AAP national convener was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 on charges of money laundering in a scam related to excise duty on liquor.

This was ED's only charge against him and the agency lodged a case under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

According to an article in The Indian Express, the CBI had registered a corruption case against Kejriwal under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) in 2022, but he was not named as an accused. He was also called for questioning in April but Kejriwal's lawyers had insisted that he was only called as a witness.

Kejriwal was presented before Special Judge Amitabh Rawat after the Rouse Avenue Court granted permission to CBI to examine him in the courtroom.

The arrest comes after previous questioning in Tihar Jail while the CBI prepares to seek custody from a Delhi Court.

ET reported that The Delhi High Court had earlier stayed a trial court order which granted bail to Kejriwal in the money laundering case in the alleged excise scam. A vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said that the lower court did not "appropriately appreciate" the material placed before it by the ED.

The High Court said, "The Vacation Judge while passing the Impugned Order (bail order) did not appropriately appreciate the material/documents submitted on record and pleas taken by ED and the averments/grounds as raised in the petition under section 439 (2) of the Code (of Criminal Procedure) require serious consideration while dealing with the said petition. Accordingly, the present application is allowed and the operation of the Impugned Order is stayed."

ET further notes that the court has paved the way for further examination of the case's merits as well as a need for a balanced judicial approach. The Kejriwal controversy is likely to continue amid intense scrutiny from all quarters.