During the Supreme Court hearing in response to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging the Delhi High Court verdict upholding his arrest in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam on Thursday, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju presented the ED’s reasons why the apex court must uphold the high court’s decision.
Listing out reasons why the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is valid, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said, “From the material, my submission is it is beyond doubt that the IO (investigating officer) can come to the conclusion that the petitioner has committed an offense. The most important material is that he demanded Rs 100 crore in bribes. If that material is there, as a result of which Rs 100 crore was generated, it was sent to different places, it reached Goa, and was used in the election campaign and for AAP. This is not the stage to look into the credibility of the evidence. The statement on which reliance is placed has to be taken to be correct. The yardstick that some other person would come to a different conclusion is not the criteria.”
Informing that “AAP is going to be made accused,” ASG Raju said, “Not only kickback monies were received, but we also have evidence today that he stayed in a 7-star hotel in Goa where bills were running in lakhs. And payment was made by Chaman Preet Singh, who received cash. The vicarious role is also there. As far as his role, he demanded Rs 100 crore. Rs 45 crore handled by Chaman Preet Singh, who paid for his hotel in Goa.”
ASG Raju further said, “Chaman Preet made a hotel booking for Kejriwal in Grand Hyatt.”
In response to ASG Raju, Justice Khanna said that Kejriwal could have been arrested any time before subject to sufficient material for the same, a LiveLaw report said.
“You can’t rely on post-arrest material, unless you are talking about the complaint,” he said.
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