Arvind Kejriwal's arrest: After setback in HC, AAP says it is hopeful of relief from SC

New Delhi, Apr 9 (PTI) Failing to get any reprieve from the Delhi High Court, the Aam Aadmi Party Tuesday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will move the Supreme Court against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, and maintained the excise policy case was the "biggest political conspiracy" to finish off the party.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj told a press conference soon after the HC order that they are hopeful the Supreme Court will provide relief to Kejriwal in the same way it granted bail to AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh recently.

"We respect the institution of the high court but we respectfully submit that we do not agree with its order and will move the Supreme Court against it," Bharadwaj said.

"The so-called excise policy scam is the biggest political conspiracy to finish off the party and Kejriwal," he alleged.

He claimed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have failed to recover even one rupee of what they claim was illegal money involved the case.

"The entire matter is not related to money laundering, rather it's the biggest political conspiracy of the country. It's a conspiracy to crush and finish off Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab," he said.

"It has come on record in courts repeatedly that there was pressure on the witnesses. The witnesses were beaten, intimidated, threatened and pressured to change their old testimonies and give statements that the ED wants, what the Central government agency wants. And this is not my allegation, it is all on record," Bhardawaj said. 

It can be said this entire case is based on fake evidence and false witnesses, he charged. "Its very basis is a lie."

"Magunta Reddy, who testified against Arvind Kejriwal, is contesting elections on an NDA ticket. Witnesses have said before the court that they were forced to give statements against Kejriwal," he alleged. 

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal''s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise scam, saying there was no contravention of legal provisions.

With the Lok Sabha polls inching closer, the high court's latest order may prove to be a setback to AAP trying to get its act together in the absence of its convener.

Around a fortnight before his arrest on March 21, Kejriwal had launched AAP's Lok Sabha campaign in Delhi titled "Sansad Mein Bhi Kejriwal toh Dilli hogi aur khushhal" (Delhi to be more prosperous with Kejriwal in Parliament).

The party has now changed its strategy, launching a new slogan "Jail Ka Jawab, Vote Se" seeking to gain electorally through a "sympathy wave", as party leaders put it, in the wake of the chief minister's arrest.

AAP is contesting 22 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, Assam and Haryana and Kejriwal was scheduled to campaign for the party's candidates.

In his absence, other leaders of the party, including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and Delhi ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, will have to hold the fort.

Singh and Mann held a meeting of ministers and AAP MLAs in Punjab during the day. In Kejriwal's absence, they have the big responsibility of steering the party''s election campaign, AAP sources said.

AAP has still not said much about the role of Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita Kejriwal in the party's campaigning for the polls even though she attended a rally of the INDIA bloc at the Ramlila Maidan here on March 31.

Party leader Jasmine Shah, who also addressed the presser with Bharadwaj in Delhi, said, "The investigation has been going on for two years but not even a single penny has been recovered. But what happens? You arrest top leaders of a national party and put them in jail as part of a conspiracy."

Back in the HC, while dismissing Kejriwal's plea, the court said, "The court is of the view that the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal was not in contravention of legal provisions. The remand cannot be held to be illegal."

Besides his arrest, Kejriwal, who is currently in judicial custody, has also challenged his subsequent remand.

The matter pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency.

He was sent to judicial custody on April 1 after he was produced in the trial court on the expiry of his ED custody. He is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.