The law officer said the money trail showed that ₹45 crore "kickback" used in the Goa assembly elections came from four hawala routes.
File photo of Arvind Kejriwal. (Supplied)
Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Chief Minister, was on Friday, 22 March, produced before a court where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) dubbed him as a “key conspirator” in the liquor scam case and sought his 10-day custody.
The ED told Special Judge Kaveri Baweja at the Rouse Avenue court that Kejriwal received several crores of rupees as kickbacks from the ‘South Group‘ for formulating and implementing the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
He demanded ₹100 crore from some accused from the ‘South Group’ for contesting elections, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, who is appearing for the federal anti-money laundering agency, told the court.
The law officer said the money trail showed that ₹45 crore “kickback” used in the Goa assembly elections came from four hawala routes.
He said the statements of the accused and witnesses have been corroborated by Call Detail Records (CDR).
The AAP chief was produced before the court around 2 pm amid tight security on and around the court premises.
“We have given an application for 10 days’ remand,” ASG Raju told the court.
He alleged the AAP is not an individual but a company, and every person responsible for the conduct of the company will be held responsible.
The agency alleged Kejriwal was culpable in the case not only as an individual but was vicariously responsible for the actions of his associates.
Kejriwal was produced before the special ED court after he withdrew from the Supreme Court the plea against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate. The apex court had said the petition would be heard during the day.
The move came soon after the Supreme Court refused to grant bail to BRS leader K Kavitha, who has also been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi excise policy scam case. The ED has claimed that Kavitha, a BRS MLC and daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, was a key member of the south cartel.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi asked Kavitha to approach the trial court, saying it is a practice that this court is following and cannot bypass the protocol.
Protests erupted in the national capital over Kejriwal’s arrest with hundreds of AAP workes and supporters hitting the streets. Raising slogans “Arvind tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare sath hain” and “tyranny won’t last”, they converged near the AAP offices.
Many of them, including Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj, two key ministers in the Kejriwal cabinet, were detained. They were taken away in police buses after they refused to disperse from the ITO intersection, which is close to the AAP and BJP offices, violating section 144.
While accusing Kejriwal of being the “kingpin” of the alleged scam, the ED has alleged the party’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair functioned as his link to the south cartel, which gave Delhi’s ruling party kickbacks of ₹100 crore in return for favours by way of wholesale and retail liquor licences.
These funds, it claimed, were used for the Assembly elections in Goa and significant amounts of money were given to AAP candidates in cash.
(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)
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