Delhi High Court dismisses Kejriwal's plea against arrest

Kejriwal will remain in Tihar Fail until April 15 as per the earlier order from Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s petition challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked with the alleged excise scam.

After the dismissal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that it will move the Supreme Court on Wednesday to challenge the high court verdict.

Following the High Court order, Kejriwal will remain in Tihar Jail till April 15 as he was remanded to judicial custody by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court in its previous order.

In its order, the Delhi High Court observed that Kejriwal “conspired with others’’ and was “actively involved in using the proceeds of crime’’, saying there was no contravention of legal provisions in his arrest. The rejection of his plea by the high court comes as a setback to Chief Minister Kejriwal.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said the ED was in possession of “enough material" which led to Kejriwal's arrest, and the trial court remanded him in the custody of the agency by a well-reasoned order.

She read out the judgement for 25 minutes and also explained certain portions of her decision in Hindi. The court clarified that it was not dealing with Kejriwal's bail plea but his writ petition challenging the arrest on certain grounds.