ED arrest ‘illegal’: CM Kejriwal moves Delhi High Court for urgent hearing today

Kejriwal was arrested by the agency on March 21, hours after the HC had refused to grant him any interim protection from coercive action “at this stage”.

On Friday, Kejriwal was remanded in ED custody until March 28 after the agency told Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue court that he was the “kingpin and key conspirator of the Delhi excise scam” being probed by the agency.

Delhi Minister Atishi stages a protest at ITO against the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in New Delhi, Friday, March 22, 2024. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

In his application before the HC, Kejriwal had sought an interim order directing the ED not to take any coercive process against him and to stay the summons issued to him under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

“The main petition filed by the petitioner (Kejriwal) was listed yesterday, i.e., on 20.03.2024 when the respondent (ED) had taken objection about its maintainability, and the petition was directed to be listed on 22.04.2024. The present application has been filed in the interregnum. We have heard arguments on the present application from both sides at length. However, at this stage, we are not inclined to grant any interim relief to the applicant/petitioner,” a division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain had said in its March 21 order while hearing the application.

The application was filed in Kejriwal’s main writ petition challenging the summonses issued to him by the ED and the validity and interpretation of certain provisions of the PMLA.

In the main petition, which was heard on March 20, the HC had asked the ED to file a response on its maintainability. Both the application and the main matter are now listed on April 22.