Onus now on Atishi, Pathak and Chadha

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had prepared the plans to arrest Delhi Chief Minister and chief of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday afternoon, according to sources.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal had suffered a major legal setback after a division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain of the Delhi High court refused to grant any interim protection from arrest to Kejriwal in relation to the summons issued to him by the ED in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam.

 Kejriwal’s arrest became imminent with the founder of Indian Against Corruption movement deciding to skip even the ninth summon the agency had issued to him on 17 March seeking his presence for questioning.

The Delhi High Court had told Kejriwal that his plea for interim protection will be heard on 22 April with his main petition challenging the ED’s summons.

Kejriwal and the AAP had moved to the Supreme court on Thursday itself against the order of the High court seeking an urgent hearing in the case. However, no details had emerged on its present status.