‘BJP’s bid to crush biggest opponent’, says CM Arvind Kejriwal on ED’s charges in court

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday told the Supreme Court that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has acted in a “most highhanded manner” in a money-laundering case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam.

In his response to the ED’s reply affidavit, he told the Supreme Court that his arrest in connection with the liquor policy case was a classic case of how the BJP-led Centre had misused the federal probe agency and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to crush its “biggest political opponent.”

“During an election cycle when political activity is at its highest, the petitioner’s illegal arrest has caused grave prejudice to the petitioner’s political party and will provide the ruling party at the Centre an unjust upper hand in the ongoing elections,’’ Kejriwal’s counsel told the top court.

Kejriwal told the Supreme Court that his “illegal arrest” in a money-laundering case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy based on “free and fair elections” and “federalism”.

In his rejoinder, Kejriwal said the mode, manner and timing of his arrest just before the Lok Sabha elections when the Model Code of Conduct had come into play, speaks volumes about the “arbitrariness” of the agency.

“... It is submitted that the petitioner’s arrest constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy based on ‘free and fair elections’ and ‘federalism’, both of which form significant constituents of the basic structure of the Constitution,” the rejoinder said.

He said a level playing field, which is a