Delhi HC refuses interim relief to Arvind Kejriwal, issues notice to ED

The court has issued a notice seeking ED's response to Kejriwal's plea. It has given the probe agency time till April 2 to file its response. The next hearing in this case is on April 3.

Kejriwal is currently in ED custody at the agency's Delhi office.

Meanwhile, the agency's 7-day custody of the AAP supremo will expire on Thursday and he will be back in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court, where, most likely, the authorities will ask for further custody.

In a long-drawn and intense hearing Wednesdayday, Kejriwal's legal team slammed the probe agency for its "delaying tactics" after the ED asked for three weeks' time span to respond.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, said the copy of the petition had been served late, and that he needed time to study the document.

Senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said the petition had been filed on March 23. "Defects were cured later. I am sure Mr Raju does not want us to serve a defective copy to him... we shared petition with him."

In his petition, Kejriwal had said his arrest had violated his human rights, and that the ED had failed to prove the alleged crime.

"Arrest without interrogation shows the current action is politically motivated," Singhvi argued, stating that the arrest was timed to disrupt the party's campaign for next month's Lok Sabha election.

Kejriwal has become the first serving Chief Minister to be arrested and is the third senior leader from the party to be arrested in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam.

The arrest last week followed hours after a team from the ED questioned him at his residence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The ED has named Kejriwal as a key conspirator in this case. However, the Chief Minister and his party colleagues arrested in this matter - ex-Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and former Health Minister Satyendar Jain - have all denied the charges.