A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged corruption in giving liquor licenses, his wife Sunita Kejriwal described the action as a “betrayal of the people of Delhi”.
“Your Chief Minister has always stood with you. Whether inside or outside, his life is dedicated to the country. The public knows everything,” she posted on X.
Mr Kejriwal, who founded his Aam Aadmi Party a decade ago on an anti-corruption platform, spent last night in the custody of Enforcement Directorate or ED. His party has dismissed the action as “a desperate attempt to malign the image” of Mr Kejriwal.
The Enforcement Directorate’s action came soon after the Delhi High Court refused to grant Mr Kejriwal any protection from coercive action in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Earlier, while being led into a courtroom by officers, he said, “My life is dedicated to the country, whether I am inside or outside.” The court has reserved its decision on whether Mr Kejriwal could leave detention.
The 55-year-old earlier ignored nine summons from the central agency that investigates money laundering. Three of his senior party colleagues – Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Vijay Nair – are already in jail waiting trial in the same case.
His arrest was followed by hundreds of AAP workers taking to the streets to protests the Enforcement Directorate’s move.
His party, AAP, insists that he would not quit as the Chief Minister of Delhi and would serve from the jail. The prison sources, however, have said that they would go according to the jail manual.
Delhi Education Minister Atishi Marlena Singh said that Mr Kejriwal had not resigned from his office. “We made it clear from the beginning that if needed, Arvind Kejriwal will run the government from jail,” she told reporters.
The Enforcement Directorate told a trial court today that Mr Kejrwal was the “kingpin” of the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam while seeking a ten-day custody.
Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is representing Mr Kejriwal, said this is the first time in the history of India that a sitting chief minister has been arrested. “The power of arrest is not equal to the need of arrest and there was no necessity of arresting this man”, he said.
The Delhi liquor policy case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
Mr Kejriwal’s name has been mentioned multiple times in the charge sheets filed by the ED in this case. The agency has alleged that the accused were in touch with him for formulating the excise policy that resulted in undue benefits to them in return for which they paid kickbacks to the AAP.
Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest comes close on the heels of BRS leader K Kavitha’s arrest by an ED team. The Enforcement Directorate claims she allegedly conspired with the top leaders of AAP. including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, to get favours in the Delhi excise policy formulation and implementation. She was involved in paying ₹ 100 crore to the AAP leaders in exchange for these favours, they alleged.