A court in Delhi decided on Monday to send Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody until April 15 in the excise policy case. The Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED), asked for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief to be placed in judicial custody for 15 days because Kejriwal was not cooperative and did not share his passwords with the agency. The ED had previously stated that Kejriwal was the "kingpin and key conspirator of the Delhi excise scam."
Kejriwal's wife Sunita and his party colleagues, including AAP MLAs Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Gopal Rai, were present in the courtroom on Monday. Before appearing in court, Kejriwal told reporters outside that "What the PM is doing is not good for the country."
The ED, in its remand application, mentioned that during his custodial interrogation, Kejriwal claimed that his interaction with AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair, a co-accused in the case, was limited. However, the statements of Vijay Nair himself revealed that he stayed in a Cabinet Minister's bungalow and worked from the CM's camp office.
The ED also alleged in the remand papers that the chief minister was shown WhatsApp chats demonstrating Vijay Nair's involvement in the alleged scam. Additionally, the agency claimed to have shown evidence of more than 10 meetings between Nair and other co-accused involved in the case.
According to the agency, the chief minister was also presented with evidence of hawala transfers amounting to Rs 45 crore, along with multiple statements from witnesses who worked on the AAP campaign in Goa. These witnesses allegedly received cash from Chanpreet Singh, who was working for the AAP campaign in Goa.
Before his arrest on March 21, the ED seized four mobile phones, including Kejriwal's, and around Rs 70,000 in cash was found at his residence. The chief minister turned off his iPhone and did not share the password. During his questioning, Kejriwal reportedly stated that by accessing his telephone data and chats, the ED would have access to details of AAP's election strategy and pre-poll alliances.
In an earlier remand application, the ED alleged that kickbacks received after changes in the excise policy were used to fund AAP's Assembly poll campaign in Goa. Kejriwal's counsel also filed an application in court to allow him to have access to three books, the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, and How Prime Ministers Decide by journalist Neerja Chowdhury, while in judicial custody.
