New Delhi:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Telangana MP K Kavitha – opposition politicians who were arrested last month – weeks before the start of the Lok Sabha elections – in connection with the alleged liquor policy scam – have been sent to extended judicial custody for 14 days. The Aam Aadmi Party boss and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader – both in Delhi's Tihar Jail – will appear in court on May 7.
The Chief Minister of Delhi has a plea pending in the Supreme Court challenging his arrest on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate on charges of money laundering. The court heard the case on April 15, but denied Kejriwal immediate relief pending a response from the federal agency.
READ | Kejriwal has to remain in jail for now, the Supreme Court refuses an early hearing
The court will hear the plea on April 29, three days after the second phase of elections.
Earlier, the Delhi High Court dismissed the same plea, noting that the ED had submitted sufficient material to substantiate its claim – that Mr Kejriwal was allegedly involved in forming the now scrapped policy and demanding a bribe of Rs 100 crore, used to fund the AAP's Punjab and Goa. election campaigns.
The AAP and Mr Kejriwal have denied all allegations and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of “political vendetta” against a rival before the elections. The AAP and the Opposition have repeatedly alleged that federal agencies – such as the Enforcement Directorate – are targeting opposition leaders on instructions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. The Center has rejected this claim.
In a related matter earlier today, Mr Kejriwal – a type 2 diabetes patient – received his first injection of insulin in (reportedly) 32 days. The injection was administered after his blood sugar level rose to an alarmingly high value of 320 mg/dl. Mr Kejriwal had moved the court last week for insulin injections, but the plea was opposed by the ED, which alleged that the Chief Minister had deliberately eaten food items with high sugar content to increase glucose levels and had sought medical bail.
READ | Kejriwal was given insulin in Tihar jail after sugar levels spiked
On Monday, a Delhi court ordered a panel of specialists from the central All India Institute of Medical Sciences to assess the Chief Minister's condition and determine whether insulin is indeed necessary.
Ms Kavitha – the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao – will hear the outcome of a bail plea in the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on May 2, following a reserved order.
READ | In the liquor policy case, the court reserves an order on Kavitha's bail
The plea is against the arrest of Ms Kavitha by the Central Bureau of Investigation – which took her into custody while she was still in jail – in the ED case. The ED arrested her from her home in Hyderabad on March 15, leading to a sharp argument with her brother and BRS leader KT Rama Rao.
The case against the BRS leader is that she was part of the 'South Group' – a cartel of businessmen who allegedly paid Rs 600 crore in bribes to the AAP for the award of liquor licenses.
Ms Kavitha has also denied the allegations and, like Mr Kejriwal, has questioned the timing of the ED and CBI action against her as it happened weeks and days before the general elections.
The ED has also arrested two other AAP leaders in the case: former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested in February last year and has been in jail since then, and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who was arrested in October was arrested and granted bail. earlier this month.
READ | Sanjay Singh gets bail after six months in liquor policy case
While granting bail to Mr Singh, the Supreme Court noted that investigating agencies have so far failed to recover the alleged bribe money. “Nothing has been recovered… there is no trace (of money allegedly received by AAP as bribes from the 'South Group')…” the court noted.
The same point has been raised by the AAP and Ms Kavitha's BRS colleagues.
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