Excise policy scam: Arvind Kejriwal moves SC, court agrees to consider case at earliest

Supreme Court
Supreme Court of India. File Photo: AFP

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Wednesday said he will look into Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's request for an early listing of his plea against a high court order upholding his arrest. He asked Kejriwal's lawyer to send an email.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal moved the Supreme Court against the April 9 judgement of the high court.

"I will look into the e-mail (seeking early listing of plea). Please send the mail," CJI Chandrachud told senior advocate and Kejriwal's counsel Abhishek Singhvi.

"This is urgent and is regarding the Delhi chief minister. The arrest is based on an un-relied document and suppressed from us," Singhvi said.

Kejriwal's counsel Vivek Jain told PTI that they have filed the petition in the apex court challenging the high court's order. His plea is likely to be mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on Wednesday.

In a blow to Kejriwal ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Delhi High Court had on Tuesday upheld his arrest in the money laundering case, saying the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was left with "little option" after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.

The high court had also cited the ED's claim that Kejriwal conspired and was actively involved in the use and concealment of the proceeds of crime to reject his petition against his arrest.

The high court had chastised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, who was claimed to be involved in money laundering in his "personal capacity" and his capacity as the national convenor of the political party, for questioning the timing of his arrest and underlined that an investigation against the "classes and masses" cannot be different.

The matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 which was later scrapped.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency. He was sent to judicial custody in the case on April 1 after he was produced in the trial court on the expiry of ED custody.

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