Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was sent to judicial custody till April 15 in the liquor policy scam case on Monday. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) produced him in a Delhi court as his ED custody was ended today (April 1). The granted probe agency's demand for judicial custody of Kejriwal. The ED alleged that Kejriwal is answering every question by saying 'I don't know'. The probe agency had sought 15-day judicial custody of Kejriwal, saying he was "totally uncooperative".
Atishi, Saurabh Bharadwaj's names appear first time in the liquor case
Kejriwal has told the Enforcement Directorate that Vijay Nair, who is one of the arrested accused in the alleged liquor scam, used to report to Delhi Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, and not to him, ASG SV Raju said in the court on Monday (April 1). This was the first time the duo's names appeared in the case.
Kejriwal seeks permission for special diet, books
Kejriwal moved applications, seeking permission to have a special diet, medicines, books and religious locket which he is wearing while being in judicial custody. The Delhi CM has sought permission to have the following books in judicial custody — Bhagwad geeta, ramayana and How Prime Ministers Decide.
Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal, Delhi Ministers - Saurabh Bhardwaj, Atishi and Gopal Rai were present in the court today.
Ahead of the court hearing, Kejriwal targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying whatever the PM is doing is not good for the country.
Earlier on Thursday, a Delhi court extended the ED custody of AAP convenor till April 1. However, the agency sought seven-day custody but the court said he has to be produced before it on April 1 at 11 am.
The ED said in its fresh remand plea that during Kejriwal's custodial interrogation, his statements were recorded over five days but he was "giving evasive replies".
It said statements of three other persons relevant to the case have also been recorded during the remand period.
It said that during the ED custody, Kejriwal was confronted with C Arvind, the then personal secretary to deputy CM Manish Sisodia who was handed over the draft Group of Ministers (GoM) report for the 2021-22 excise policy at the residence of the chief minister.
It said the statement of one of the AAP candidates in the 2022 Goa elections was also recorded during Kejriwal's ED custody. It revealed that the candidate did not have any money and his election expenditure was "taken care of by the AAP Office Delhi only through their associates", the plea said that during the custody, data from the mobile phone of the chief minister's wife have been extracted and were being analysed.
"However, data from other four digital devices seized during the search at Kejriwal's premises on March 21 (belonging to Kejriwal) are yet to be extracted as the arrestee (Kejriwal) has sought time in providing password and login credentials after consulting with his lawyers," it said.
The application said the movable and immovable property details, income tax returns (ITRs), and other financial details sought from Kejriwal were yet to be provided by the chief minister, or his family members.
The federal probe agency said it had sought the details regarding the appointments made with the chief minister in the online portal in his office.
It said the during the interrogation, summonses were issued to senior excise officials in Punjab who were "involved in the arm-twisting of certain (liquor) wholesalers of Delhi."
The agency said that when the demand for bribes was not fulfilled, these officials either shut down their factories or did not allow the wholesalers to despatch their goods to Punjab.
The plea said the officials concerned sought time on the summonses, citing the hooch tragedy in Sangrur.
"The arrestee needs to be interrogated further in the wake of these reasons or findings. Hence, it is imperative in the interest of investigation that seven days' further custodial remand of Arvind Kejriwal may be granted to the Directorate of Enforcement," the plea said.
(With PTI inputs)
