Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was on Thursday night arrested by the ED in excise policy-linked money laundering case, the official sources said
Arvind Kejriwal. File Pic
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in excise policy-linked money laundering case, the official sources said.
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The arrest, the first of a sitting chief minister, came hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant protection to Kejriwal from any coercive action by the agency.
Soon after the high court order, an ED team reached his residence and carried out searches. Subsequently, he was arrested, officials said.
The ED team had reached Arvind Kejriwal's residence Thursday evening, shortly after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.
They said the agency team went to Kejriwal's residence to serve him a summons in the case. The team also informed the staff at the chief minister's residence that it has a search warrant, they said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief had earlier skipped multiple summonses of the agency in the case.
Earlier in the day, a Delhi High Court bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain refused to grant Kejriwal any protection from coercive action in the case.
The bench listed the AAP leader's application for further consideration on April 22 when his main petition challenging the summons is fixed for hearing, and asked the Enforcement Directorate to file its response.
The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the case.
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