New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested in a money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, is likely to be produced by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) before Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court at 11 am on Monday as his custody ends on April 1.
The Aam Aadmi Party national convenor has also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging his arrest, alleging that the investigating agency infringed upon his fundamental rights. The court has served a notice to the ED, requesting a response by April 2. The hearing is set to continue on April 3.
The hearing comes a day after top leaders of the INDIA bloc on Sunday came together at the ‘Loktantra Bachao’ (Save Democracy) rally at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital, the first such show of strength by the opposition after the announcement of Lok Sabha polls, and slammed the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and gave a fervent call to the alliance partners to unite in national interest.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that central agencies function independently, and dismissed the opposition’s charge against the BJP-led Centre of ‘misusing’ agencies, who, opposition parties say, take action only against non-BJP leaders.
“Currently, the ED has around 7000 cases, of which less than 3% involve politicians. During their (the opposition) 10-year rule, the amount of money seized was only ₹35 lakh. On the other hand, we have seized ₹2200 crore,” he stated.
On the opposition’s allegations that agencies were taking action only against people not from the ruling BJP, the PM stated that the Enforcement Directorate’s procedure to initiate a case is the same, ‘regardless of who was in power.’
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