Delhi excise policy case: CM Arvind Kejriwal's custody extended till August 27
As misery mounts for Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday extended judicial custody of the AAP chief in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) excise policy case until August 27.
A Delhi court on Tuesday extended Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's judicial custody in the excise policy case till August 27, 2024. Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam on March 21 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution. On June 26, 2024, the AAP Chief was arrested by CBI while he was in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate.
In a hearing on Wednesday, the Supreme Court sent notice to the CBI in response to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's requests for bail and a challenge to the Delhi High Court's ruling maintaining the CBI's detention of him in connection with a corruption case involving the purported excise policy scheme. Judges Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan's bench rejected him temporary bail and ordered the CBI to respond by August 23.
On August 5, the Delhi High Court upheld the arrest of the Chief Minister as "legal". It had dismissed Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest, saying it was only after sufficient evidence was collected and sanction was obtained in April 2024 that the CBI proceeded with further probe against him.
The High Court had said there was no malice in the acts of the CBI which demonstrated how Kejriwal could influence witnesses who could muster the courage to depose only after his arrest. It was said that Kejriwal is not an ordinary citizen but a distinguished recipient of the Magsaysay Award and the convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party.