The petition filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal against the Delhi High Court verdict upholding his arrest will be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday.
According to the cause list uploaded on the apex court's website, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will hear on April 15 Kejriwal's petition challenging the Delhi High Court's April 9 order.
The High Court had upheld Kejriwal's arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam. The court observed that the ED had "little option" after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.
The order was passed by Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, who said that there was evidence to show Kejriwal's involvement in the alleged scam and that the money received as kickbacks was used for political campaigning in the 2022 Goa legislative assembly elections.
In his plea before the High Court, Kejriwal argued that the Central government was misusing the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) under which he was arrested to create a non-level playing field in the lead-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency. He is in judicial custody till April 15 and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party has said that Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann will meet Kejriwal in Tihar Jail today at around 12 noon.
The party had alleged that Kejriwal was not being allowed in-person meetings with his family in Tihar jail. "There is an attempt to break the morale of CM Kejriwal," senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told media on Saturday.
"His family has not been allowed in-person meetings with him. They are only allowed to meet him through the jangla. This is inhuman. Even hardcore criminals are allowed in-person meetings," the AAP leader said.
The 'mulakat jangla' is an iron mesh which separates the inmate from the visitor in a room inside the jail. A visitor and an inmate can talk to each other by sitting on different sides of the mesh.
"In the same Tihar jail, many meetings take place but Arvind Kejriwal, a three-time elected chief minister, is being humiliated and made to meet his family through the jangla. This is happening at the behest of the BJP-led Central government," Singh said.
"His rights as an inmate are being snatched," said the AAP leader.
(With PTI inputs)
