No court relief for Arvind Kejriwal once again

The media didn’t swarm the court gates, the police didn’t crowd the corridors, and Aam Aadmi Party leaders didn’t sit inside. Courtroom 512 at the Rouse Avenue Court on Monday appeared to be a far cry from what it usually is on the day the court hears a matter linked to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Special judge Kaveri Baweja extended the CM’s judicial custody in the Delhi liquor policy case to April 23 – co-accused and BRS leader K Kavitha’s custody expires the same day.

This was not opposed by Kejriwal’s counsel. 

The CM was produced virtually for the hearing and did not speak. He was arrested by the ED in the liquor scam case on March 21. He was first sent to ED custody, which was subsequently extended to April 1, and then remanded in judicial custody in Tihar jail for 14 days. 

Meanwhile, Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest was also heard in the Supreme Court today for the first time. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued a notice to ED and asked it to file a reply by April 24.  

The matter will next be heard on April 29, despite Kejriwal’s lawyer Abhishek Singhvi urging the court to post the matter for this Friday, on April 19 – on the day of the first phase of the Lok  Sabha polls. 

Singhvi told the bench that he wanted to show some facts that will “shock the conscience of the court”. He said it was an “unusual matter,” not because he is a chief minister but because he was allegedly not named in the chargesheets and enforcement case information report. He further claimed that the purpose of the arrest was to stop Kejriwal from campaigning.

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