Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) formally arrested him on Wednesday and sought his five-day custody in a corruption case related to the alleged excise scam. A special court later sent him to CBI custody for three days.
During his court submission, Kejriwal claimed innocence in the case, asserting that his former deputy Manish Sisodia and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were also innocent. The central agency formally arrested the AAP leader after obtaining permission from Special Judge Amitabh Rawat. The application for Kejriwal’s arrest was made after he was produced before the court from Tihar Central Jail, where he is currently lodged in connection with an excise scam money laundering case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Kejriwal told the court, “It is being shown in the media, citing CBI sources, that I have put the entire blame on Manish Sisodia in a statement. I have not given any statement that Sisodia is guilty or anyone else is guilty. I have said Sisodia is innocent, AAP is innocent, I am innocent.” He also accused the CBI of sensationalizing the issue, stating, “It needs to be clarified. This will be the top headline in all the newspapers. They aim to sensationalize the matter.”
The CBI, in its application seeking Kejriwal’s custody, informed the court that he was required to be questioned to unearth the larger conspiracy in the matter and needed to be confronted with evidence and other accused individuals. The court subsequently sent Kejriwal to CBI custody for three days.
Following Kejriwal’s arrest, his wife Sunita alleged that the entire system was working to ensure her husband remained in jail, likening the situation to “dictatorship” and “emergency.” The Aam Aadmi Party accused the BJP of orchestrating Kejriwal’s arrest in a “fake case” by the CBI. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) in Hindi, Sunita stated that her husband had received bail on June 20 in the excise policy-linked money laundering case, but the ED immediately obtained a stay. She added, “The very next day, the CBI made him an accused. And today he was arrested. The whole system is trying to ensure that the man does not come out of jail. This is not law. This is dictatorship, this is emergency.”
The AAP condemned Kejriwal’s arrest, stating, “The dictator crossed all limits of cruelty!! Today when there was every possibility of Chief Minister @ArvindKejriwal getting bail, the BJP went into panic mode and got Kejriwal arrested by the CBI in a fake case. The CBI took Kejriwal ji to Rouse Avenue Court where his blood sugar level dropped very low. Dictator, no matter how much oppression you inflict, Kejriwal will neither bow down nor break.”
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of playing a “dirty game,” adding that the people of the country were aware of the situation. Meanwhile, the Delhi BJP stated that Kejriwal was bound to be arrested by the CBI in the excise policy case due to the agency presenting incriminating documents against him in court. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva claimed that the documents established Kejriwal as the “mastermind” behind the excise policy “scam,” which was formulated under his supervision and involved a “big scam.”
Kejriwal has been in prison since April 1 in connection with the excise policy-linked money laundering case being probed by the ED. The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 was withdrawn by the Kejriwal government in July 2022 after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its formulation and implementation.
