While the Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant bail to BRS leader K Kavitha, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal withdrew his plea against his arrest from the top court to move a lower court. Both the leaders have been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy 'scam' case.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's counsel said that he be allowed to withdraw the plea as his remand proceedings before trial court will be clashing with Supreme Court hearing.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court sought ED's response in six weeks on the plea of BRS leader Kavitha in which she challenged the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, (PMLA) provisions.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud assigned Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's plea for a hearing before a bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Friday itself. However, Kejriwal withdrew his plea from the top court later.
Kavitha, 46, a Telangana Legislative Council member, was arrested by the ED at 5:20 pm on March 15 from her residence at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad. Kavitha is the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
Delhi CM Kejriwal's Arrest
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal, who rose in politics by leading the 'India Against Corruption' movement to become the chief minister of Delhi thrice in a row, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday in the liquor policy case.
Kejriwal's arrest comes at a time when his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is making a serious foray into electoral politics through a tie-up with its opposition INDIA bloc partner Congress for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat.
Allegations are that Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge repeatedly refuted by AAP. The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi lieutenant governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act).
Kejriwal's trusted aides -- Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia -- are in prison in connection with the excise policy case, while another trusted aide Satyendar Jain is in jail in a separate money laundering case.
