New Delhi, 26 June

The CBI formally arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday and sought his five-day custody in a corruption case related to the alleged excise scam.

Special Judge Amitabh Rawat reserved the order on the custody plea for later in the day. In his submission before the court, Kejriwal claimed innocence in the case and said his former deputy Manish Sisodia as well as the Aam Aadmi Party are innocent.

The central agency formally arrested the AAP leader after getting permission from the judge. It moved the application seeking Kejriwal's arrest after he was produced before the court from the Tihar Central Jail. The AAP leader is lodged in prison in an excise scam money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Department.

Kejriwal told the court, "It is being shown in the media, citing CBI sources, that I have put the entire blame on Manish Sisodia in a statement. I have not given any statement that Sisodia is guilty or anyone else is guilty. I have said Sisodia is innocent, AAP is innocent, I am innocent." "Their entire plan is to defame us in front of the media. Please record that all these have been run in media through CBI sources," he said.

Kejriwal also claimed that the CBI was sensationalising the issue. "It needs to be clarified. This will be the top headline in all the newspapers. They aim to sensationalise the matter," he said.

The CBI counsel, however, said that they had argued on facts and that no agency source had stated anything. To this, the judge said that the media picks up one line. "It is very difficult to control media that way," he added.

In the application seeking Kejriwal's custody, the CBI told the court that he was required to be quizzed to unearth the larger conspiracy in the matter.

It also said that the Delhi chief minister was required to be confronted with evidence and other people accused in the case. "We need his custodial interrogation... he is not even recognising that (co-accused) Vijay Nair was working under him. He says Nair was working under Atishi Marlena and Saurabh Bharadwaj. He puts the entire onus on Manish Sisodia (also accused in the case). He has to be confronted. He has to be shown documents," the CBI said.

The agency claimed that the "south lobby" visited Delhi when the COVID-19 wave was at its peak.

Federal agencies had earlier claimed that a so-called "south lobby" dictated the formulation of the now-scrapped excise policy and that the chief minister was involved in all this.

"Deaths were happening. They prepared a report and gave it to Abhishek Boinpally. It was sent through Vijay Nair to Manish Sisodia. There was no meeting called. Signatures were obtained on the same day. Same day it was notified also. That was the haste... when there is Covid, who was at the helm of affairs? The chief minister. It is his direction. South lobby is sitting in Delhi and they see to it that it's done, it's notified," the CBI told the court, in reference to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

The CBI also accused Kejriwal of making "unnecessary allegation of malice". "Unnecessary allegation of malice are being made. We could have conducted these proceedings before the elections. I (CBI) am doing my job, satisfying every court," the counsel representing the CBI said.

When the court asked why was Kejriwal being arrested now, the CBI counsel said that the probe agency refrained from arresting him while the elections were going on. "Court was considering his interim bail for elections. If at that time, I (CBI) would have arrested... That shows my restraint that I did not arrest him when he was campaigning," the counsel said.

The counsel representing Kejriwal opposed the CBI's plea seeking his custody, terming the remand application "totally vague". "This is a classic case of abuse of power," the counsel said.

The defence also requested the judge to provide documents related to the CBI proceedings against Kejriwal, including the court order related to his interrogation in Tihar prison on Tuesday evening.