The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the Enforcement Directorate about the timing of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest in the excise policy case which was made a couple of weeks before the Lok Sabha elections in the country.
The apex court also asked ED to come prepared on questions related to Kejriwal's arrest and noted, "life and liberty exceedingly important".
As per LIVE LAW, Justice Sanjiv Khanna said, "The time gap which is taking place between initiation of proceedings and repeated complaints being filed after some time. This all has consequences. 365 days...is upper limit."
“Liberty is exceedingly important, we can't deny that. the timing of arrest, they have pointed out...we will hear you. we want you to be (prepared)," Justice Khanna added.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal in court, emphasized that the ED should not act vindictively and must "act with the highest degree of fairness."
The court asked the probe agency to respond to their questions on May 3.
Supreme Court Hearing On Monday
The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the non-appearance of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal before the ED despite repeated summonses for recording of statements, and asked if he can challenge the arrest in a money laundering case related to the excise policy scam on the ground of non-recording of his version.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, which posed several questions to senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi appearing for Kejriwal, asked why the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader did not move a bail application before the trial court.
Singhvi said, "Thanks for saying that. Non recording of section 50 statements is not a defence to arrest me for reasons of believing there is guilt.
"I am saying other materials also do not establish my guilt. The ED came to my house to arrest me. Then why can't ED record my statement under section 50 at my house?"
Singhvi pointed out that on April 16, 2023, Kejriwal appeared before the CBI in connection with the case and answered all the queries.
"Today, you cannot say that we will arrest you because you did not appear on summons. Can you say that since you did not cooperate, you will be arrested?
"Non-cooperation cannot be a ground for criminality or grounds of arrest. This court has last year held that non-cooperation cannot be a ground of arrest under the PMLA," Singhvi said.
Singhvi said that he has challenged the arrest and if the arrest is held as illegal all other things go.
"My case is that the arrest is illegal. The remit of Section 19 of PMLA is much wider as it empowers ED to arrest a person based on material in their possession which provides a reasonable basis to suspect that an individual has committed an offence punishable under the law.
(With PTI inputs)
