In a massive development, the Delhi High Court (HC) on Tuesday dismissed Arvind Kejriwal's petition challenging his arrest by the ED in the alleged liquor policy case. AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on March 21, 2024, by the ED in the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy case. The Delhi Chief Minister skipped ED summons 9 times and finally after the High Court refused to give interim protection from arrest, the ED raided the AAP Supremo's house. One of the major defenses of Arvind Kejriwal during the petition hearing was the timing of his arrest. In the previous hearing on April 3, the Delhi CM raised concerns about the timing of his arrest, particularly regarding the approaching Lok Sabha elections. Below is what the Delhi High Court said on Arvind Kejriwal's timing of arrest-
On Arvind Kejriwal's timing of his arrest, the Delhi HC said, "The petitioner has been arrested in a money laundering case & the courts have to consider the same with regards to the law in the absence of timing of arrest. Sh Kejriwal would have known when LS elections would be declared & he would then have been very busy & thus some observations that… court says that it cannot be held that the arrest timing was decided by ED."
Notably, the Delhi High Court also stated that Arvind Kejriwal skipping nine summons of the ED was among the contributing factors that led to his arrest. The Delhi HC said, "ED was in possession of enough material which had led them to arrest the accused. Delay caused by Kejriwal also impacted those who were in custody. Non joining of Kejriwal was a contributory factor & not the only factor."
For the unversed, Arvind Kejriwal skipped all the 9 summons sent by ED saying that they were illegal.