A Delhi court on Tuesday extended by 14 days the judicial custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Court passed the order for the extension of judicial custody of the two politicians who were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the second fortnight of March. Their interim and regular bail applications were also rejected by the court in the past month.
The ED, in its remand orders, termed Mr. Kejriwal as “key conspirator” of the Delhi excise policy scam. Ms. Kavitha was alleged to have played a “big role” with other members of the ‘South Group’, i.e. Sarath Reddy, Raghav Magunta and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, and conspired with the top leaders of the AAP and gave them kickbacks.
The case against Mr. Kejriwal and the BRS leader was based on the first information report (FIR) initially filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the complaint of the Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi alleging multiple irregularities in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22, which was subsequently withdrawn by the State.
After the CBI case, the ED filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), alleging that the money earned through the excise policy was diverted through “hawala” channels to be spent on the AAP’s campaign in Goa ahead of the Assembly elections there in 2022.
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The CBI and ED have made multiple arrests in this case in the last two years, including of former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia and AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Singh.
