Court extends Kejriwal’s ED custody by four days
NEW DELHI: The Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday extended custody of Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal for four more days after his arrest last week in the controversial Delhi liquor policy case, as the country gears up for a general election starting next month.
Kejriwal, was arrested by the federal Enforcement Directorate on March 21 in connection with corruption allegations related to the city’s liquor policy and he was remanded to its custody until Thursday. It is the first time in independent India that a serving Chief Minister has been arrested.
The AAP has denied the accusations and said Kejriwal will remain its chief minister as it fights the case in court.
In court on Thursday, Kejriwal called his arrest “a political conspiracy.” His political party is part of a broad alliance of opposition parties called INDIA, which is the main challenger to Bharatiya Janata Party in the coming election.
Hundreds of Kejriwal’s supporters have been holding protests since he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, the federal agency that probes economic offences, on Friday.
The agency has accused Kejriwal of being the “kingpin and key conspirator” in the liquor bribery case. Kejriwal has refuted the allegations and accused the directorate of “manipulating investigative agencies for political motives.”
Opposition parties say the government is misusing its power to harass and weaken its political opponents, pointing to a spree of raids, arrests and corruption investigations against key opposition figures. The BJP denies targeting the opposition and says law enforcement agencies act independently.
Kejriwal’s arrest is the latest setback for the bloc, and came after the country’s main opposition Congress party accused the government last week of freezing its bank accounts in a tax dispute to cripple it. Opposition figures have slammed the move as undemocratic and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party of misusing the agency to undermine them.
US state department spokesperson Mathew Miller this week
said Washington was following Kejriwal’s case.
“We are also aware of the Congress party’s allegations that tax authorities have frozen some of their bank accounts in a manner that will make it challenging to effectively campaign in the upcoming elections,” Miller said, adding that the U.S. encouraged a fair and transparent legal process for each of these issues.
Indian officials objected to those comments on Wednesday and summoned a senior official from the U.S. embassy in New Delhi. India’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Thursday the remarks from the State Department were unwarranted.
“In India, legal processes are driven only by the rule of law. Anyone who has similar ethos, especially fellow democracies, should have no difficulty in appreciating this fact,” Randhir Jaiswal told reporters.
New Delhi also summoned a senior official from the German Embassy over the weekend after its Foreign Office spokesperson said they were following Kejriwal’s case and that the opposition leader was entitled to a free and fair trial.