Sisodia is innocent, AAP is innocent, I am innocent, says Arvind Kejriwal as court terms arrest 'not illegal'

NEW DELHI: A city court on Wednesday sent CM Arvind Kejriwal to CBI custody for three days, asserting that his arrest in the Delhi excise policy case was "not illegal". The court of vacation judge Amitabh Rawat said in an 18-page order that at this stage of investigation, statements of witnesses and documentary evidence will be considered and the remand of the accused was, therefore, warranted.
"Investigation is the prerogative of the investigating agency. There are certain safeguards provided in the law, and at this stage, on the material on record, it cannot be said that the arrest is illegal. The agency, however, should not be overzealous," said the court.
CBI arrested Kejriwal during the hearing in court after the court allowed the agency to examine him and to produce documents for his arrest. The agency had sought five days of custody.
The application seeking Kejriwal's arrest had been moved by CBI after he was produced before the court from Tihar Jail, where he was lodged in judicial custody in a money-laundering case related to the excise policy being probed by ED.

The CBI counsel had earlier told the court why the CM's custody was needed. "We need his custodial interrogation. He pushed the entire onus on Manish Sisodia and said he has no idea about the excise policy. We need to confront him with documents. We are not asking him to admit to something," said the counsel.
Responding to this, Kejriwal addressed the court, saying CBI had released fabricated information to the media.
I told Sisodia about policy objectives: CM
He rebutted media reports which claimed that he had blamed deputy CM Manish Sisodia for the scam.
“CBI sources se media me chalwaya ja raha hain ki maine ek bayaan diya hai ki Manish Sisodia doshi hain. Maine aisa koi bayaan nahi diya hai. Manish nirdosh hai, AAP nirdosh hai, main nirdosh hun. Unka saara plan hai hame media main badnaam karne ka. Inke saare aarop jhhute hain. Isko record kiya jaaye. (CBI sources are disseminating the information in the media that I have given a statement saying Manish Sisodia is guilty. I have not given any such statement. Manish is innocent, AAP is innocent, I am innocent. Their entire plan is to malign us through media. All their claims are false. Please record this,” said Kejriwal.
He said CBI wanted a headline on the frontpage that Kejriwal had put the entire blame on Manish Sisodia. “They are sensationalising the issue,” he said.
Responding to this, the judge said he had read the CM’s statement and agreed that he hasn’t said what the CBI has attributed to him.
The Delhi CM told the court that he had told CBI about the directions he had given to Sisodia, who was then deputy CM, regarding formulation of the said policy. “I told them the excise policy had three objectives. We had to increase revenue and put an end to the long queues besides ensuring equitable distribution,” he said, speaking in Hindi. “I had called Manish Sisodia and given him these three directions.”

He said CBI had asked him whose idea was privatisation and he had told them that it was not his idea.
However, the CBI counsel, special public prosecutor (SPP) D P Singh, opposed the submissions. “It's not sources. I argued in court. No source said anything. And I argued on facts,” he submitted. The court replied: “Media picks up one line. It is very difficult to control media that way.”
Responding to a query by the court about the material submitted, the SSP said Vijay Nair was a close associate of Kejriwal and Magunta Reddy had met Kejriwal in his office.
Rejecting the plea of Kejriwal's counsel, senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri, that there was an issue of applicability of Section 41A of CrPC, the court said CBI has taken permission of the court before examining and interrogating Kejriwal. This section requires a police officer to issue a notice to the accused before making an arrest without a warrant.
The court also rejected the contention of the CM's counsel about the timing and necessity of the arrest. “This court has to consider, at this stage, the merits of the case. The timing may be circumspect but it is not the clear criterion for declaring an arrest illegal,” said the judge.
The court took note of the SSP’s submission that Kejriwal’s role as one of the “main conspirators” became clear during further investigation, particularly after statements of Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy (MP) recorded on Jan 25, 2024 and the statement of his son, Raghav Magunta, recorded on Jan 20, 2024. CBI had also claimed that Kejriwal’s replies during his questioning in Tihar were found to be evasive.
In order to prove that Kejriwal can influence witnesses and derail the investigation, CBI had pointed out to the court that permission/sanction for certain individuals in this case was not granted by the Punjab govt and that many cases had been filed against certain persons in Punjab.
The counsel for the CM, Vikram Chaudhri, said the agency had all the material with it even when it filed the previous three chargesheets. Moreover, the arguments made against Kejriwal are essentially the same as against Manish Sisodia a year back. He also questioned the statements of the witnesses, saying these were available in 2023 and were not new. These were obtained under duress, he added.
The SPP also pointed out that while the Delhi govt had invited public feedback on the proposed liquor policy, the comments were fabricated. Responding to this, advocate Vivek Jain said that more than 14,000 comments had been received and the agency had alleged that seven opinions were fabricated which amounted to just 0.06% of the opinions.
The court allowed Kejriwal to meet his wife, Sunita, and his lawyers for one hour everyday (from 6-7pm) while in custody.
The court also allowed the CM a medically prescribed diet, home-cooked food, prescribed medicines, glucometer and spectacles.