Legal cell of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday called for a massive protest in all district courts of the Delhi against the arrest of Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam case.
State President of AAP legal cell, Advocate Sanjeev Nasiar, said that the way Arvind Kejriwal was arrested showed that there was a conspiracy against him.
He said in order to show its support to Kejriwal, the lawyer community has decided to hold a massive protest tomorrow at 12:30 pm.
The Advocates will gather at all district courts of Delhi, including the Patiala House Court, Dwarka Court, Saket Court , Karkardooma Court, Tis Hazari Court and the Rouse Avenue Court, and hold the agitation there, added Nasiar, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Bar Council of Delhi.
ED had arrested the Delhi Chief Minister from his residence on March 21, after questioning him for over two hours. He was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy scam.
On March 22, Special CBI judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Courts sent Kejriwal to ED custody till March 28.
Appearing for the national agency, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju alleged that Kejriwal was the kingpin of the Delhi excise scam and was directly involved in the use of proceeds of crime accounting to over Rs 100 crore.
The ASG contended that even during the time of search on March 21, Kejriwal did not give correct facts.
The agency sought 10-day custody of the accused on the grounds that it needed confrontation to recover the money trail. It was a fit case to grant remand, said the ASG.
Three Senior Counsels- Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Vikram Chaudhary and Ramesh Gupta appeared for Kejriwal.
Singhvi submitted that till yesterday, in the proceedings before the High Court, ED did not disclose that Kejriwal was being probed as an accused in the case.
He submitted that the threshold for arrest under PMLA was very high.
Singhvi contended that ED failed to show the necessity to arrest the incumbent Chief Minister of the national capital, noting that there was no direct evidence.