SC questions ED on timing of Delhi CM's arrest, seeks reply by Friday

TERMS LIFE AND LIBERTY AS 'EXCEEDINGLY IMPORTANT'

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to the questions related to the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, including the timing of his arrest just before the Lok Sabha elections.

The apex court termed life and liberty as "exceedingly important" and questioned the ED on the timing of Kejriwal's arrest ahead of the general elections in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, which continued hearing Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest for the consecutive day, posed several queries to Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, and sought his reply on Friday.

"Life and liberty are exceedingly important. You can't deny that," the bench told Raju and sought his reply, saying: "The last question is with regard to the timing of the arrest, which they have pointed out, the timing of the arrest, soon before the general elections." The bench also flagged the long time gap between the initiation of adjudication proceedings in the case and the action of arrest, saying that section 8 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provides a maximum limit of 365 days.

The apex court is likely to continue hearing Kejriwal’s plea on Friday as the two judges will be sitting in different combinations from Wednesday.