New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday withdrew his petition from the Supreme Court challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate the previous evening in the Delhi Excise Policy case. Kejriwal informed the top court that he would instead contest the probe agency’s custody.
This came even as a special bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi was set to hear the plea filed by the detained CM against his arrest later in the day. “Because [ED] remand is clashing, decided to withdraw it…will fight the remand and come back to your Lordships,” senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, told the court.
Earlier in the day, the bench had refused to consider the plea for bail raised by BRS leader K Kavitha, who was also arrested by the ED in the case.
Shortly thereafter, the AAP chief was brought before a Delhi court by the probe agency, which requested a 10-day remand. A special three-judge bench, comprising of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice MM Sundresh, and Justice Bela Dwivedi, was scheduled to hear Kejriwal’s plea.
Kejriwal is the first sitting Chief Minister to be arrested. Meanwhile, security was tightened with heavy personnel deployment and multi-layer barricading on roads leading to BJP headquarters as AAP leaders and workers staged protests against the arrest of Kejriwal. Several notable Delhi ministers, including Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, were also taken into preventive arrest.
Atishi expressed “concern” regarding Kejriwal’s safety and security alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to eliminate the Opposition.
Delhi Ministers Gopal Rai and Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that Kejriwal’s family has been put under house arrest, and the party is unable to contact even the CM’s parents.