Delhi CM accuses ED
Kejriwal said the ED’s only mission was to “trap’’ him in the liquor policy case.
“I am not opposing the remand petition of the ED. The ED can keep me in custody for as many days as it wants, But this is a scam,’’ he said.
The Delhi CM said that the ED had two objectives — one is to crush AAP, and “the second is to create a smokescreen and run an extortion racket behind it through which they are collecting money.’’
The court sent Kejriwal to ED custody till April 1 even though the ED had sought a seven-day extension for further interrogation in the money laundering case.
The court said he has to be produced before it on April 1 at 11 am.
Kejriwal’s advocate Ramesh Gupta said the chief minister wants to cooperate in the investigation but not on the ED’s grounds for which the agency is seeking extension of his custodial remand.
As he was being taken to the courtroom for the hearing in the case, Kejriwal told reporters that “this is a political conspiracy”.
AAP ministers Atishi, Gopal Rai and Saurabh Bharadwaj along with the chief minister’s wife Sunita Kejriwal were inside the court.
“This is a political conspiracy. The people will give an answer,”
Kejriwal said. Meanwhile, the ED said in its fresh remand plea that Kejriwal was giving evasive replies and not disclosing passwords of his digital devices.
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 had been extracted and was 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 during the interrogation, summonses were issued to senior excise officials in Punjab who were “involved in the armtwisting 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.