The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday questioned Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the liquor policy case, The Times of India reported.
This came a day before the Supreme Court is to hear the Delhi chief minister’s plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s Tuesday order that stayed his bail in the arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in the money-laundering case linked to the now-scrapped liquor policy.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is expected to produce Kejriwal before a trial court on Wednesday, reports suggest.
Vacation Judge Nyay Bindu of the trial court had granted bail to Kejriwal on June 20. The trial court said in its order that the Enforcement Directorate had acted with bias against Kejriwal.
On Tuesday, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation’s questioning of Kejriwal was an action taken by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre that is driven by the possibility that the Supreme Court might grant Kejriwal bail.
“The whole country is witnessing the atrocities and injustice of the BJP and the central government,” Singh said in a social media post. “The whole country stands with Arvind Kejriwal against the excesses of the BJP and will raise their voice together against injustice.”
Singh alleged that when there is a high possibility that Kejriwal will get bail from the Supreme Court, the Centre is “conspiring to register a fake” case through the Central Bureau of Investigation to get Kejriwal arrested.
On Monday, the Supreme Court said that it would hear on Wednesday the Aam Aadmi Party chief’s plea challenging the High Court’s decision to impose the interim stay on his bail. The top court also noted that it was unusual that the High Court did not release the order immediately when it stayed the lower court’s decision on Friday.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21. The central law enforcement agency is investigating allegations of money laundering in the liquor policy case based on a first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The two central agencies have alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government modified Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor policy by increasing the commission for wholesalers from 5% to 12%. This allegedly facilitated the receipt of bribes from wholesalers who had a substantial market share and turnover.
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