Court sends Kejriwal to judicial custody till July 12, says probe is on

Court sends Kejriwal to judicial custody till July 12, says probe is on

"Considering the fact that the conspiracy alleged against the accused involves a large number of persons who were involved in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy and also the persons who acted as facilitators in the use of ill-gotten money, I find that there exist sufficient grounds for remanding the accused to judicial custody," said vacation judge Sunena Sharma of the Rouse Avenue courts.

She said the probe was still in progress and may require custodial interrogation of the accused to confront him with more material likely to be collected. The court allowed the CM to meet his family and lawyers inside the court. It also allowed him to carry medicines and medical devices required for monitoring and controlling his diabetes.

The court passed the order after CBI, represented by special public prosecutor DP Singh, did not seek extension of police custody but requested the court to send the CM to judicial custody for 14 days.

CM's Custodial Interrogation May Be Needed, Says Court

The court, taking note of the available material, said the investigation had revealed that Vijay Nair, media in-charge of AAP and an accused in the case, was a close associate of the Delhi CM. He was contacting various liquor manufacturers and traders "for demanding undue gratification" in order to incorporate provisions favourable to them in the policy, said the court.

The name of Kejriwal had surfaced as one of the main conspirators in the criminal conspiracy, the court said.

The agency claimed in its application that Kejriwal did not cooperate with the investigation, gave evasive replies and had failed to give a proper and truthful explanation regarding enhancement of the profit margin for wholesalers from 5% to 12% under the policy without any study or justification.

CBI told the court that Kejriwal could not explain why during the peak of the second wave of Covid pandemic in 2021, cabinet approval for the revised policy was obtained in a hurried manner and within a day when the accused persons of the South Group were camping in Delhi holding meetings with Nair.

He also could not give, CBI claimed, the reasons for Nair holding meetings with various stakeholders in the liquor business in Delhi and of his own meetings with Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, accused Arjun Pandey and accused Mootha Gautham. Reddy is a Telugu Desam Party MP in Lok Sabha and his son, Raghav Magunta Reddy, is an accused-turned-approver in the case. Pandey and Gautham are other accused.

The agency expressed apprehension that Kejriwal being the CM may use his influence to tamper with the evidence and may also try to influence potential witnesses who are yet to be examined.

Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri, who was appearing for the Delhi CM, opposed the CBI plea, requesting the court to ask the agency to place on record the entire material, including the case diary and evidence collected during investigation to satisfy the court regarding the need for judicial custody. The counsel urged the court to reject the CBI plea for judicial custody in absence of such material and give a direction for releasing Kejriwal.

The investigating officer (IO) has pointed out certain incriminatory material for showing that ill-gotten money was used during the Goa assembly elections for making payments towards air tickets and hotel booking during Kejriwal's visits to Goa from June 2021 to February 2022, the court noted.

Further, the court said, the IO has also placed chats of the CM with certain persons involved in the transfer of ill-gotten money to Goa through hawala channels.

Since Kejriwal gave evasive replies regarding his connection with the said persons, his further custodial interrogation may be required to "unearth the larger conspiracy hatched among the accused persons" in the matter, the court said, noting the contents of the case diary.

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