Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor, was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its probe into alleged money laundering linked to the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise or liquor policy. He was later arrested by the CBI also in the case.
Kejriwal was subsequently sent to judicial custody and was lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail for the same. On September 13, the Supreme Court granted bail to Kejriwal in a petition filed by him for bail and challenging his arrest by the CBI.
What Is The Liquor Policy Case?
Kejriwal was arrested in connection with an ongoing liquor policy case, under which the ED has previously alleged that through the excise policy implemented by the Delhi Government in November 2021, the AAP was involved in money laundering.
The new policy reduced the legal drinking age to 21, replaced government-owned liquor stores with private entities, and implemented separate registration criteria for different liquor brands based on pricing and sales performance outside Delhi. Additionally, the annual liquor vending license fee was increased significantly from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 75 lakh. The new policy also granted licenses to 849 private vendors through competitive bidding.
The policy was later scrapped after violations were reported.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleges that the excise policy was part of a conspiracy to provide a 12 per cent wholesale business profit to certain private companies and was a coordinated effort by Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Vijay Nair and others.
Two other AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh have previously been arrested in connection with this case. BRS Leader K Kavitha too has been accused of "conspiring" with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia to "get favours" in the Delhi excise policy formulation and implementation. She is expected to remain in ED custody till March 23.
After The Arrest
The arrest of the Delhi CM stirred up a political storm in the capital, with the Aam Aadmi Party members along with prominent opposition leaders from the INDIA bloc coming out in support of Kejriwal. AAP called for nationwide protest against the CM's arrest, calling it a "political conspiracy". Speaking to the media, AAP minister Atishi Singh had said that Arvind Kejriwal "is, was, and will remain the Delhi Chief Minister".
There was widespread debate about the feasibility of running the government from jail with many legal experts calling it a logistical challenge. However, Singh had said, “There is no law which prohibits him from running the government from jail. He has not been convicted and will remain the Delhi CM.”
It also worked as a glue to bring members of the INDIA bloc together at a time when tough talks on seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls were still going on. Big rallies of the INDIA bloc were organised in Delhi and Ranchi where two seats – one for Kejriwal and one for Hemant Soren – were kept vacant symbolically as their wives, Sunita Kejriwal and Kalpana Soren emerged as the new faces of the opposition parties.
