A Delhi Court is slated to hear Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea against arrest in the excise policy case on Tuesday. The AAP supremo has accused the CBI of acting with ‘malice’ and creating a a false basis for arrest. A plea filed on Monday also noted that the probe agency had failed to present any new material after June 4 to justify the investigation or arrest.
“CBI is claiming that I have made a statement against Manish Sisodia, which is completely false. Manish Sisodia is innocent, Aam Aadmi Party is innocent. I am also innocent. Such statements are being given in the media to defame us. They are defaming us in the media, citing CBI sources. Their plan is to have the front page of media run a story stating that Kejriwal has put all the blame on Manish Sisodia,” he told the court.
The Bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna is scheduled to hear the matter on Tuesday. Kejriwal was remanded in judicial custody last week in connection with the excise policy case after three days of CBI custody.
The developments came even as a local court rejected the jailed CM's plea seeking two additional meetings with his lawyers via video conferencing. Lawyers for the AAP chief noted that Kejriwal was facing about 30 litigations and had also been arrested in one more case by the CBI after filing this application.
“Learned counsel for applicant has failed to convince the court as to how the applicant is entitled to two additional legal meetings through VC on the same grounds which have been discussed and dealt with in the earlier order. There appears to be no reason whatsoever to take a different view on the basis of the contents of the application under consideration,” said special judge Kaveri Baweja on Monday.
(With inputs from agencies)
