Kejriwal withdraws Supreme Court plea, to pursue legal route via lower court

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal who was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) late Thursday in connection with an alleged liquor policy scam, has opted to retract his Supreme Court petition against the arrest, hours after the apex court agreed to hear the matter.

Kejriwal is now set to pursue legal recourse through a lower court, adhering to procedural norms. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and said since the remand proceedings before the trial court later in the day will be clashing with the hearing in the top court, he be allowed to withdraw the plea.

He said Kejriwal will contest the remand proceedings before the trial court and then come back to the apex court with another petition. "You may go there (before trial court). Just write an e-mail to the registry. We will see," Justice Khanna told Singhvi.

The move came after Justice Khanna had told Singhvi that Kejriwal's petition against his arrest would be heard by a three-judge bench during the day. Kejriwal had moved the Supreme Court late Thursday after the ED arrested him.

Thedecision to withdraw the petition swiftly follows the denial of a similar plea by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha, who was apprehended last week in the same case. Interestingly, the bench assigned to Kavitha's case was also slated to hear Kejriwal's plea.

The court instructed Kavitha to seek relief, including bail, from the trial court, emphasizing that individuals of influence, like senior political figures or Chief Ministers, cannot directly approach the apex court without exhausting lower court remedies.

Despite the uproar sparked by Kejriwal's arrest, his legal team asserts that there are no legal grounds barring him from continuing his role as Delhi's Chief Minister, as he remains an accused and not a convicted individual. The outcry against Kejriwal's detention has garnered widespread support from opposition parties, notably within the INDIA bloc, of which AAP is a member.

Allegations have surfaced from AAP sources that the Chief Minister's family is effectively under house arrest. In response, AAP issued a nationwide call for protests against the BJP, prompting heightened security measures, including multi-layered barricading and deployment of paramilitary forces around AAP, BJP, and ED offices to maintain law and order. Gopal Rai, a prominent AAP leader, has announced nationwide demonstrations against the BJP in light of the Delhi Chief Minister's arrest.

Kejriwal was arrested hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to the AAP national convenor from any coercive action by the agency.