Sunday, Apr 28, 2024 08:00 [IST]
Last Update: Sunday, Apr 28, 2024 02:23 [IST]
NEW DELHI, (IANS): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has filed a counter
affidavit in the Supreme Court in response to the Enforcement Directorate's
(ED) submissions, wherein the probe agency had claimed that a total of over 170
mobile phones were changed/destroyed by accused with others during the period
of alleged excise policy scam.
Kejriwal, in his affidavit, has refuted the ED's claims
of evidence destruction or disappearance concerning mobile phones, saying that
there is no evidence to support such allegations against him. The AAP supremo
has condemned his arrest as politically motivated, arguing that it unfairly
advantages the ruling party during the ongoing elections, compromising the
principle of 'free and fair elections.'
He labelled the ED's claims of "large-scale
destruction of evidence" as baseless and devoid of merit, calling them as
a desperate attempt to rationalise his unlawful arrest.
The CM has criticised the ED's conduct, accusing them of
high-handedness and a disregard for due process.
The AAP leader portrayed the case as a prime example of
the central government's misuse of agencies like the ED to suppress political
opponents. He reiterated his stance that the ED's actions were part of a
concerted effort to undermine the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders.
In the last hearing, the top court had issued notice to
ED and had ordered Kejriwal’s special leave petition to be listed in the week
commencing April 29 for further hearing.
The apex court had asked the federal anti-money
laundering agency to file its reply by April 24 and allowed the petitioner side
to file a rejoinder affidavit, if any, by April 27.
The affidavit filed by ED’s Deputy Director said that
Kejriwal’s petition was devoid of merit and his arrest was necessitated due to
his “total non-co-operative attitude”.
The affidavit said that Kejriwal was avoiding
interrogation by not remaining present before the investigating officer despite
being summoned nine times and while recording his statement under section 17 of
the PMLA he was avoiding answering questions by being evasive and totally
non-cooperative.
CM Kejriwal has approached the Supreme Court challenging
the dismissal of his plea by the Delhi High Court.
Earlier, a bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of the
Delhi High Court took note of the ED's submission that the federal anti-money
laundering agency had enough material, including statements from approvers and
allegations of involvement in the formulation of the excise policy, which had
led them to arrest him.
The ED has denied that the arrest of Kejriwal in the
Delhi excise policy case was based on belated contradictory or coerced
statements of the other accused obtained in exchange for no objection for their
bail and said that its case was strong.
The ED, in its affidavit, claimed that CM Kejriwal had
made submission before the Delhi PMLA court, stating that he had no objection
to the custody/remand being extended further.
“The petitioner has waived his right to question his
custody as of today and the petitioner cannot be allowed to argue that his
custody as of today is illegal and the present petition is liable to be
dismissed on this ground alone,” read the ED’s affidavit.
The agency also claimed that CM Kejriwal was asked to
provide the password of his mobile phones during the search on March 21 and
then during ED Custody the same was asked again and his reply was recorded in
his statement wherein he refused to share the same.
“Even his statements during custody would reveal that
despite being confronted with materials, the petitioner chose to give
completely evasive answers,” it added.
The ED arrested CM Kejriwal on March 21 after questioning
him for over two hours at his official residence in Delhi and is presently
lodged in Tihar jail.
The ED has termed CM Kejriwal the "kingpin and the
key conspirator" of the alleged excise scam in collusion with other
ministers of the Delhi government, AAP leaders, and other persons.
