The federal agency had called Kejriwal for questioning nine times
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested over allegations his party accepted £9.4 million in bribes from liquor contractors nearly two years ago.
Atishi Singh, a leader of Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) denied the accusations and said they were fabricated by the federal agency, which is controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Singh said her party will ask India’s Supreme Court to quash Kejriwal’s arrest and that he should be questioned, not arrested, as the investigation is still in progress.
Arvind Kejriwal will continue to be Delhi’s chief minister while the party fights the accusations.
Footage showed police whisking away Kejriwal’s supporters in buses as federal agents arrested him after questioning him for hours at his residence in New Delhi.
One of the charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is that 14 wholesale liquor distributors earned an “excess profit” of £32 million when the now-scrapped liquor policy was in operation two years ago.
Kejriwal’s arrest came hours after Delhi’s High Court refused to grant any protection to him over the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the alleged scam.
The federal agency had called Kejriwal for questioning nine times in recent months.
But each time, Kejriwal skipped the summons, claiming he was busy with his political work.
Kejriwal’s lawyer, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said the agency was being misused by the Modi government to weaken his party ahead of India’s upcoming national elections.
Modi’s BJP has been defeated in Delhi state elections by Kejriwal’s party and also was defeated in northern Punjab state in 2022.
The federal agency accused Kejriwal’s government of a sudden increase in the wholesaler dealers’ profit margin under the excise policy to 12% from 5%.
Government attorney SV Raju said that 14 wholesale liquor distributors earned “excess profit” of £32 million in less than a year and in turn paid £9.4 million in bribes to Kejriwal’s party and other ministers.
Kejriwal launched AAP in 2012 and it won the Delhi state legislature election a year later when he became the chief minister.
But he resigned as the chief minister 49 days later because his minority government couldn’t enact an anti-corruption law due to a lack of support from other political parties.
He took over as the chief minister for a second five-year term in 2015 after his party’s stunning victory in the state elections when it grabbed 67 of 70 seats.
In subsequent 2020 elections, Kejriwal’s AAP re-emerged victorious and retained power in Delhi.
Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as chief minister of Delhi for the third time in a row.
Outside Delhi, his party registered another major victory in the 2022 Punjab state elections.
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