The national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, was formally arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with an excise policy issue today (June 26).
Authorities from Tihar jail presented Kejriwal to a Delhi court earlier today regarding the excise scandal. The CBI requested his detention so they could question him when he was brought before Special Judge Amitabh Rawat.
CBI formally arrests Delhi CM and AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the Excise Policy case. pic.twitter.com/op3Y7DzTVe
— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2024
Kejriwal, meanwhile, withdrew his appeal against the Delhi High Court’s decision to temporarily halt the trial court’s bail judgment from the Supreme Court.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, the AAP leader’s counsel, informed a vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti that Kejriwal would like to file a substantial appeal because the high court had issued a detailed order on June 25, according to news agency PTI.
Singhvi told the bench that Kejriwal had been arrested by the CBI and that there were new developments every day.
“We would like to file a substantial appeal to bring on record all relevant details and challenge the June 25 order of the high court in which bail order was finally stayed,” he stated.
In order to enable Kejriwal to campaign for the 18th Lok Sabha elections, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in May after he was detained in March in relation to an excise policy scam. After concluding his campaign activities, he went back to jail on June 2 and has remained there ever since.
After the lieutenant governor of Delhi requested a CBI investigation into suspected irregularities and corruption concerning the program’s creation and implementation, the excise policy was abandoned in 2022.
The CBI and ED claim that improper actions were taken when changing the excise policy and giving license holders excessive benefits.
