Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the corruption case linked to the excise policy was an “insurance” arrest to ensure that he stays in prison.
In a hearing held by the court on a holiday due to Muharram, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi sought Mr. Kejriwal’s bail in the CBI case, calling it a “sham and non-necessity arrest which cannot be sustained”.
“It is a rarest of rare case. He [Mr. Kejriwal] is already in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and the CBI does nothing for the last one year and then suddenly arrests him,” he said, adding that “those who are doing this” want Mr. Kejriwal to remain in custody “by hook or by crook”.
Mr. Singhvi also asserted that the Aam Aadmi Party convenor was “not a terrorist” but the Chief Minister of Delhi, and was entitled to bail. “It is unfortunately an insurance arrest. I have effectively three release orders in my favour [two from the Supreme Court and one from the trial court in the ED case] under very stringent provisions of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act)... These orders show that the man is entitled to be released,” he said.
Advocate D.P. Singh, representing the CBI, however, objected to the term “insurance arrest” while noting that multiple petitions and applications were being filed in several courts, and till date, there have been no observations regarding any such violations by the probe agency.
Mr. Singh said the Chief Minister’s role was not evident at first, since the now-scrapped excise policy fell under the purview of the State Excise Minister. However, when his involvement became clear, he was called by the CBI.
Adding that the agency has the right to decide the timing of calling an accused person for questioning, Mr. Singh added: “I arrest him only after this court has granted a complete stay on his release in the ED case. Where is the question [of an insurance arrest]?”
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna reserved her decision on the plea challenging the Chief Minister’s arrest and seeking interim bail in the corruption case.
‘Same case in Pakistan’
Mr. Singhvi drew a comparison between former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest by the country’s authorities and Mr. Kejriwal’s arrest by the CBI and ED.
“We all read recently in the paper that in case after case, Khan was released, but the day he came out of jail, he was arrested in another case. Now they [Pakistan authorities] want to have a mega case against him. I don’t want to see similar things happening in our country,” he said.
Mr. Kejriwal was arrested in a corruption case by the CBI on June 26 from Tihar Jail, where he is currently lodged. He was arrested by the ED on March 21 in a money laundering case, but was granted bail by a trial court, which was subsequently stayed by the High Court. On July 12, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in the money laundering case.
