Excise case: Arvind Kejriwal seeks early hearing in SC on his plea against HC order upholding his arrest

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Convenor Arvind Kejriwal. Pic/PTI

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.

In a massive blow to the chief minister, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday upheld his arrest in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam, saying the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was left with "little option" after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.

A single-judge bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma 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.

It chastised the AAP leader, claimed to have been involved in money laundering in his "personal capacity" and in 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.

It also rebuked Kejriwal for "casting aspersions" on the judicial process with his claim about an approver making donations to the BJP through electoral bonds, saying the law relating to approvers was over 100 years old and was not enacted to implicate the politician.

The high court asserted that there was no contravention of legal provisions as the ED had enough material in its possession to nail him.

"Courts are concerned with constitutional morality and not political morality," it said.

"The material which has been encapsulated reveals that Sh. Arvind Kejriwal had allegedly conspired with other persons and was involved in the formulation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, in the process of demanding kickbacks from the South Group, as well as in generation, use and concealment of proceeds of crime," said the court in its 106-page order.

The court noted there were statements of witnesses, including approvers, which "reflect" that Kejriwal was "allegedly personally involved" in formulation of the excise policy and "prima-facie in process of demanding kickbacks from the South Group in exchange of favours".

The high court, however, clarified that it was not dealing with Kejriwal's bail plea but his writ petition challenging the arrest on certain grounds.

The matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 that 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 is in judicial custody till April 15 and is currently lodged in Tihar jail.