Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, and K Kavitha, a member of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, are currently in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. They will appear in court again on May 7th.
New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, and K Kavitha, a lawmaker from Telangana, were arrested last month before the Lok Sabha election on charges related to an alleged liquor policy scam. They have been sent to extended judicial custody for 14 days. Both leaders, from the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi respectively, are currently held in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. They are scheduled to appear in court again on May 7th.
The Delhi Chief Minister has a pending plea in the Supreme Court, where he is challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges back on March 21st. The court heard the matter on April 15th but did not grant Mr. Kejriwal immediate relief, awaiting a reply from the federal agency.
Just days before, the Delhi High Court dismissed the same plea, stating that the Enforcement Directorate had provided sufficient evidence to support its claim. The claim alleged that Mr. Kejriwal was involved in creating a now-canceled policy and had demanded bribes of ₹100 crore, which were purportedly used to finance the election campaigns of the AAP in Punjab and Goa.
Today, in a related development, Mr. Kejriwal, who is a Type 2 diabetes patient, received his first insulin shot in approximately 32 days. This injection was given after his blood sugar levels rose to a dangerously high 320 mg/dl. Last week and earlier today, Mr. Kejriwal had approached the court requesting insulin injections. However, the Enforcement Directorate opposed his plea, alleging that the Chief Minister intentionally consumed high-sugar foods to raise his glucose levels and seek medical bail.
On Monday, a Delhi court instructed a team of specialists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which is run by the central government, to evaluate the Chief Minister’s condition. Their task is to determine whether Mr. Kejriwal indeed requires insulin treatment.
The AAP and Mr. Kejriwal have consistently refuted all allegations leveled against them, and they have accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of pursuing a “political vendetta” against them, particularly in the context of the upcoming general election. Additionally, they have accused a member of the Congress-led opposition bloc of similar motives. Both the AAP and the opposition have repeatedly asserted that federal investigation agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, target opposition leaders under instructions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. However, the central government has denied these allegations.
Ms. Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, will find out the decision on her bail plea on May 2nd in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court. Special Judge Kaveri Bawaja reserved her order on Monday. This plea challenges Ms. Kavitha’s arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which occurred while she was already in judicial custody in connection with the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) case.
The case against the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader alleges that she was involved in the ‘South group,’ which is purported to be a cartel of businesspersons. The allegation states that this group paid an alleged sum of ₹600 crore in bribes to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in exchange for the allotment of liquor licenses.
Like Mr. Kejriwal, Ms. Kavitha denied the allegations and questioned the timing of the ED and CBI action against her, given that it occurred just days and weeks before the general election.
In addition to Mr. Kejriwal, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested two other AAP leaders in this case. Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested in February last year and has been in jail since then. Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was arrested in October and was granted bail earlier this month.
The Supreme Court observed the investigative authorities had not yet been able to locate any of the claimed bribe money when allowing Mr. Singh bail. “Nothing has been recovered… there is no trace (of money allegedly received by AAP as bribes from the ‘South group’)…” the judge stated.
The AAP and Ms. Kavitha’s BRS colleagues have pointed the same sentiment, emphasizing the timing of the arrests by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) just before the general election. They have argued that these actions seem politically motivated.
