Speeches, arguments, laughter – Courtroom 512 of Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court saw all that today when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was presented by the Enforcement Directorate for further remand.

The ED had asked for seven days’ remand and, notably, Kejriwal and his team did not oppose the request. Special CBI judge Kaveri Baweja granted four days, which will end on April 1. Yesterday, Kejriwal had been denied interim relief by the Delhi High Court over his plea challenging the remand as well as his arrest. 

But today’s 39-minute hearing will mostly be remembered for Kejriwal’s speech. He addressed the judge, but it was obvious he was speaking to the public via journalists huddled in the corner of the crowded courtroom, taking notes on phones and in notebooks. 

In Kejriwal’s words, the ED was out to “crush” the AAP and create a “smokescreen” for its own extortion.

Here’s what happened in Courtroom 512 today.

Kejriwal’s big speech

Besides journalists and lawyers, Kejriwal’s family and senior AAP leaders were in the courtroom today. His wife Sunita Kejriwal sat on the third row of the courtroom in a yellow salwar kameez, her son Pulkit on one side and AAP leader Atishi on the other. Saurabh Bharardwaj and Gopal Rai were also present, sitting besides Atishi. 

First, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the ED virtually,  said digital data had to be extracted and that Kejriwal had to be confronted with “individuals” from Goa, possibly referring to AAP Goa’s president Amit Palekar and three others, who were questioned by the ED today. Raju also said Kejriwal’s statements had been recorded but that his replies had been “evasive”.

He said that Kejriwal was “deliberately not cooperating,” and summons had also been issued to senior excise officials in Punjab. He then sought seven days’ further custody of Kejriwal, after which the chief minister’s lawyer, Ramesh Gupta, told judge Kaveri Baweja that Kejriwal wanted to address the court personally. 

Then, Kejriwal stood, wiped his face with a handkerchief, and began speaking in Hindi.

The AAP chief said the case had been running for two years, filed by the CBI in August 2022. However, his name cropped up only after “four statements” were made. 

The first statement was by C Arvind, personal secretary to AAP leader and former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who was arrested in the same case in February 2023. Kejriwal said Arvind had claimed to have given Sisodia a document on the excise policy when Kejriwal was present. 

“Is this sufficient reason to arrest a sitting chief minister?” he asked, pointing out that leaders would often come to his house and talk amongst themselves. 

At this point, Raju objected and asked Kejriwal to allow him to speak. The court replied that it wouldn’t give Kejriwal more than five minutes.

The second statement was by Magunta Reddy, a YSRCP MP from Ongole who is part of what the ED calls the “South Group”, which purportedly gave kickbacks of over Rs 100 crore to the AAP. Kejriwal said Reddy had given several statements that didn’t indict the Delhi CM, only to purportedly change his tune after his son was arrested in connection with the case. 

“Statements after statements were being made where he was not accusing me,” said Kejriwal of Reddy. “As soon as he accused me, his son was released and he was not asked to make any more statements. This means the ED’s mission was just to trap me. There are three Section 50 statements which should be equal in the eyes of the law. But why is only the statement which names me being used?”

Reddy’s son Raghav Magunta later turned approver in the case and was released. Raghav, therefore, forms the third statement, according to Kejriwal’s speech. Kejriwal said Raghav made “seven” statements of which the Delhi CM was only mentioned in one, the last. He also alleged Raghav was released “as soon” as he named Kejriwal and no further statements had been taken since. 

“The first six statements by Raghav have not been taken on record,” he said. “ED has filed 25,000 pages in the court and CBI 31,000 pages. Out of that, only the statements against me have been used.”

Asking where the money in this alleged scam had gone, Kejriwal then said the “real scam” began after the ED began investigating. Raju interjected with an objection.

Finally, the fourth statement – this time by Hyderabad-based businessman and Aurobindo Pharma director P Sarath Reddy, who was arrested in the excise policy case in November 2022. He turned approver in the case in June 2023.

Kejriwal claimed Sarath Reddy had not named him in 11 statements made to the investigating agencies but had only named him in the twelfth. In this statement, Sarath allegedly said he met Kejriwal along with Vijay Nair, formerly in charge of the AAP’s communications. Kejriwal, in a hurry, purportedly told Sarath to “stay in touch” with Nair.

Kejriwal also brought up the fact that the Aurobindo Pharma director had donated Rs 55 crore to the BJP via electoral bonds after his arrest in the excise policy case. He said Reddy had essentially “bought his bail,” and the “money trail was clearly established”.

Kejriwal done, ASG Raju then spoke on behalf of the ED. He said Kejriwal had refused to share his phone password with the agency. Kejriwal replied that the ED could not force him to unlock his devices. 

Raju then argued that Kejriwal was “playing to the gallery” with his speech by repeating the submissions his counsel had made in the Delhi High Court. He asked how Kejriwal knew the number of pages in the ED’s possession, calling it a “figment of his imagination”. Referring to Kejriwal’s claim of Sarath Reddy giving the BJP money, he said it had “nothing to do with the liquor scam.”

“There are no different standards for a chief minister,” he added. “Right to arrest a CM is no different from an ordinary man.”

At this point, Kejriwal’s advocate Ramesh Gupta loudly protested and asked if he could respond to Raju’s allegations. The court asked him to lower his voice and said it had heard Kejriwal’s submissions. Gupta insisted, and asked on what grounds Kejriwal had been arrested if the ED claimed that the money through “kickbacks” had been used by the AAP for the Goa assembly polls in 2022. He also urged the court to investigate the accusations of Reddy donating to the BJP after being arrested. 

The hearing ended then, with the judge pronouncing the order an hour later. Kejriwal will next be produced in court the morning of April 1, when his four-day remand with the ED ends. 

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