Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday moved High Court challenging his arrest and the order of remand passed by the trial court on Friday, March 22. The plea in Delhi High Court stated that both the arrest and the remand order are illegal and Kejriwal is entitled to be released from custody immediately.

The High Court denied an urgent listing of the plea filed by AAP convener Kejriwal. The matter will be now listed on Wednesday, as per reports.

According to the Delhi Chief Minister’s legal team, an immediate hearing has been sought from the acting Chief Justice, Justice Manmohan, preferably by March 24.

On March 21, Kejriwal was interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the Delhi CM’s residence in the 2021-2022 Delhi liquor policy case. During ED’s search operation, Kejriwal was arrested amidst dramatic circumstances as the AAP chief failed to obtain interim protection from arrest in the Delhi excise policy case from the Delhi High Court earlier.

The city court on March 22 granted seven days of custody of Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal to ED till March 28 for Kejriwal’s detailed and sustained interrogation regarding his role in the alleged Delhi excise policy case.

The Delhi CM on March 22 withdrew his petition in the apex court against his arrest by the ED, as the party decided to contest the ED custody first.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Minister Atishi said that ED has failed to establish a money trail against any AAP leader despite multiple raids, arrests and a two-year-long investigation into the alleged liquor policy scam.

During the press conference, Atishi claimed that the money trail was in fact found in the BJP’s account and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ED to arrest the BJP national president JP Nadda.  

The AAP leader also said that P Sarath Chandra Reddy, head of Aurobindo Pharma, was arrested by the ED in November in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. He has donated crores of money to the BJP through electoral Bonds, Atishi claimed.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal on Saturday conveyed her husband’s message from jail to AAP workers and the people of Delhi. Quoting Delhi CM’s message, she said he would come back soon from jail.

Addressing the people of Delhi in a video statement, she said that Kejriwal has appealed to all the party workers who work on social welfare and public welfare should not stop their social work with him being jailed. He asked party workers not to hate the BJP because of his arrest as they are their brothers and sisters. He promised to come out of jail soon.

Quoting the chief minister who was sent to seven days ED remand by a Delhi Court on Friday, Sunita said Kejriwal will continue to serve the country. In his message, he said that whether he is inside that jail or not, he will continue to serve the country. His entire life is dedicated to the country, the message read out by her wife, adding that he has struggled a lot in his life and he is aware that this will continue. Therefore, this arrest was not a surprise for him, she added further quoting her husband.

Sunita also said quoting Kejriwal that there were several forces within and outside India that were weakening the country. AAP has to be alert, identify these forces and defeat them. Women in Delhi must be thinking that Kejriwal is behind bars. Who knows if they would get Rs 1000, he wondered. Kejriwal appealed to them to trust their brother, their son. There is no jail that can keep him behind bars for long.

Earlier today, Kejriwal filed a plea in the Rouse Avenue Court requesting the removal of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) AK Singh from his security. Kejriwal claimed that a police officer, Singh, had misbehaved with him while he was being brought to the court for his hearing in the remand application moved by the agency earlier on March 22.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, currently in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody until March 28, has filed a plea in the Rouse Avenue Court requesting the removal of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) AK Singh from his security. Kejriwal claimed that Assistant Commissioner of Police AK Singh had misbehaved with him while he was being brought to the court for his hearing in the remand application moved by the agency earlier on Friday. The nature of the alleged misbehaviour is not yet known.

Singh is the same policeman who has been accused of restraining Manish Sisodia by the neck on the premises of the same court last year when reporters asked him a question. The act was recorded on video and Sisodia had even filed a written complaint against him.

The Delhi police had denied any wrongdoing and said the action shown in the video was necessary for security and that it was against the law for any accused to give statements to the media. An application had been moved by the police in the court, seeking its permission to produce Sisodia via video conferencing.

This they had claimed was important as producing him physically created chaos as AAP supporters and people from the media gathered in the corridors of the court. Sisodia had been taken into custody in the liquor policy case in February last year. Kejriwal had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday night.

The AAP supremo was produced in the Rouse Avenue Court, which granted the agency his custody for 7 days. The Enforcement Directorate which is investigating the money laundering angle in the case had sought Kejriwal’s custody for 10 days. The investigative agency said it need to confront Kejriwal with the other accused. The agency alleged the Delhi chief minister and the Aam Aadmi Party had received kickbacks in exchange of favours and that he was the kingpin and a key conspirator in the alleged scam.