Kejriwal can’t get special treatment to run govt from jail: ED to court after CM seeks more meetings with lawyers

Kejriwal’s counsel Vivek Jain stated that 30 minutes per day (one hour per week) was not enough as the Aam Aadmi Party chief had 35-40 cases going on against him across the country.

Stating that this was against the rules of the jail manual, the ED’s special counsel Zoheb Hossain opposed the application. “Your (Kejriwal’s) connection with the outside world must be limited…in no other state are prisoners allowed this,” he said, adding, “Just because you have to run the government from jail, you cannot be treated differently.”

Advocate Vivek Jain, however, stated that due to the multiple cases against him, Kejriwal could not be treated the same as someone who had just one case. There was no way the chief minister could misuse his right as he and his lawyers were surrounded by eight people who could hear their conversations.

After hearing the arguments, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja reserved April 9 as the date on which the application would be decided.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was taken to Tihar Jail on Monday afternoon, hours after a city court sent him to judicial custody till April 15. The ED, which arrested Kejriwal on March 21 in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy case, sought 15 days’ judicial custody of the AAP national convenor, saying that he was “totally uncooperative”, “evasive”, gave “misleading replies”, and “concealed information” during questioning.

In its earlier remand application, the central agency had alleged that kickbacks received after changes were made in the Delhi excise policy were used to fund the AAP’s campaign for the Goa Assembly elections. The agency had called Kejriwal the “kingpin and key conspirator” of the alleged scam.