The Delhi High Court heard Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petition challenging the arrest and remand order by the CBI in the corruption case related to the Delhi Excise Policy scam on Wednesday.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared on behalf of Arvind Kejriwal, mentioned former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan during cross-examination in the court regarding Kejriwal's bail.
... We are not Pakistan - Singhvi
Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "The trial court has granted regular bail to Kejriwal under PMLA just four days ago. We are proud that we are not Pakistan where Imran Khan was released three days ago, everyone read it in the newspaper and he was arrested again in another case. But, this cannot happen in our country."
Read the arguments of both sides-
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared on behalf of Kejriwal on the petition challenging the arrest in the CBI case, said that the CBI did not have any evidence to arrest him. The CBI had made the arrest only in the sense that if Kejriwal came out, it would be additional.
Kejriwal has three release orders in his favor.
Singhvi said that the act of release and re-surrender in June itself shows satisfaction with the triple test. The Supreme Court last week deemed it appropriate to release him on interim bail indefinitely.
Singhvi argued that Kejriwal has got regular bail in the money laundering case, which has been stayed by the High Court. On which the court will decide. At the same time, Kejriwal has got interim bail from the apex court. In such a situation, the arrest of the CBI is the result of this.
Singhvi said that it is important to look at some dates. Kejriwal's name is not in the FIR lodged on 17 August 2022. After this, Kejriwal was summoned on 14 March 2023 and I appeared on the summons. The CBI did not deem it necessary to question me in the last 240 days.
Singhvi said that after three months in the year 2024, when the election code of conduct came into force, the ED arrested Kejriwal on 21 March. Kejriwal was in judicial custody and meanwhile, CBI demanded custody.
Singhvi said that as per common sense, there was no need to arrest Kejriwal in this situation. That too when the lower court granted Kejriwal regular bail on June 20. CBI became active in the whole case on June 26. Kejriwal suddenly became important to the CBI and it demanded his custody.
Singhvi said that on July 12, Kejriwal got interim bail from the Supreme Court in the ED case. In such a situation, Kejriwal is where he was due to CBI's arrest because the investigating agencies want to keep Kejriwal behind bars by any means.
Singhvi argued that in such a situation my point is that why did CBI, which remained silent for two years, become active after Kejriwal got relief from the court?
Singhvi said that my second point is that you cannot treat Kejriwal like this, violating the most comprehensive fundamental right of freedom and the procedure established by law.
Singhvi said that the CBI is completely violating the procedure under Article 21. Kejriwal is already in ED custody. After almost two years of being in judicial custody, the CBI applies to question Kejriwal on remand in terms of Section 41A of CrPC.
Singhvi said that after all Kejriwal is a Chief Minister and not a terrorist. Kejriwal never gets a copy of the application and no notice has been given, Kejriwal was not heard.
Court: Is there no formal arrest in CBI?
Singhvi replied that the trial court has granted regular bail to Kejriwal under PMLA only four days ago. We are proud that we are not a country where Imran Khan was released three days ago, everyone read it in the newspaper and he was arrested again in another case. This cannot happen in our country.
Singhvi said that the trial court allows remand based on only one reason that he is not giving satisfactory answers.
Singhvi said that if Kejriwal tells the interrogator that you go to hell, I will not answer, can the court say that you will be arrested? I am asking an extreme question to explain my point. What is Article 22? People are forgetting, then what are we lecturing about constitutional rights?
Singhvi said that in the order of Supreme Court Justice Sanjeev Khanna in Kejriwal's case, there is a very interesting sentence that interrogation in itself cannot be the basis for arrest. This is a remarkable case. It is not that you put a blindfold on your eyes and let the arrest happen.
Singhvi said that in the end, the prayer of the investigating agency is that please allow the arrest of Kejriwal. What kind of prayer is this? I have never seen this type of application, in which not even a single attempt was made to show under which section you want to make the arrest. No reason was also given.
On the same day, without informing me or hearing me, permission was given.
Singhvi said that the entire job of the judge is to filter, but neither any notice nor any hearing and he passes the order.
Singhvi said the application was filed on June 25, the order was passed the same day and thanks to a little mercy of God, Kejriwal got the order the next day. Singhvi said this is how the lower court is working.
Singhvi said that if Kejriwal is in jail in judicial custody, then the investigating agency can interrogate him and there is no need to arrest him. That is why it has been called an arrest made for self-protection so that Kejriwal cannot become independent.
Singhvi said that five important accused in the CBI case have got bail, while nine accused have not been arrested at all.
Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh, appearing on behalf of the CBI, opposed the use of words like insurance arrest by Singhvi and said that it is not appropriate.
The CBI said that as far as the accused are concerned, they have all the privileges, and based on law, the investigating agency has very little privilege compared to the accused.
The CBI said that as far as the accused are concerned, they have all the privileges, and based on law, the investigating agency has very little privilege compared to the accused.
The CBI said that the investigating agency has the right to decide which accused is to be arrested, even if it is the CM. Initially, the role of the CM was not clear as all this happened under the Excise Minister. Some things came to our notice, but we decided not to take action against him because he is the CM.
DP Singh said that the CBI arrested the minister itself and the minister has not got bail. It has been rejected twice by this court and now it is pending in the Supreme Court.
Let us tell you that on the last hearing, a bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna issued a notice to the CBI and directed it to file a reply. During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that this is the first time it has come to issue a notice.
The first point is the need for arrest. There was no question of the CBI arresting me in June as the CBI FIR is of August 2022. The arrest and subsequent remand order have been challenged by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
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