If Kejriwal is arrested, it will take very little for Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to summon a meeting of the assembly, direct it to elect a new leader of the House, and, if it doesn't, dissolve it and impose President's Rule, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant interim bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a corruption case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the alleged excise policy scam.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday did not appear before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a case linked to the now scrapped Delhi excise policy and wrote to the central agency demanding the "recall" of its summons to him, calling it "vague, motivated and unsustainable in law".
A day after his release on interim bail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he was on a 'One nation, One leader' mission to impose 'dictatorship' by putting all leaders from opposition behind bars and 'politically finishing off' those in the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Sisodia also lashed out media for carrying news against AAP leaders without "checking facts".
The party desperately needs another state where, unfettered by the Centre, it can fly its flag.
In a fresh affidavit filed in the top court, the ED said no political leader has ever been granted interim bail for campaigning even if he is not contesting polls.
The police also moved an application seeking court's permission to produce Sisodia only via video conference, after he levelled the allegation.
Special Judge M K Nagpal, who had dismissed Sisodia's bail application on Friday saying he was 'prima facie the architect' and played the 'most important and vital role' in the alleged scam, extended his custody after he was produced before the court.
The Delhi high court on Friday said the trial court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal shall not be given effect to till it hears the Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s plea challenging the relief granted in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam.
'The present case is a classic case of how the ruling party led central government has misused the central agency- Enforcement Directorate and its wide powers under PMLA to crush its biggest political opponent -Aam Aadmi Party and its leaders'
Embattled Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walked out of the Tihar Jail on Friday evening, hours after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in a money laundering case to enable him to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections, in a huge relief to his party struggling to gain momentum in the absence of its foremost leader.
The opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will hold a 'maha rally' at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on March 31 to safeguard the country's interests and democracy, Aam Aadmi Party leader Gopal Rai said on Sunday.
Special judge Kaveri Baweja directed the Tihar jail authorities to take care of his medical needs in judicial custody.
Aam Aadmi Party, whose main poll plank is fighting corruption, on Wednesday announced it would field candidates against 2G spectrum scam accused and former telecom ministers A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran of DMK in the April 24 Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, however, said there can be no straitjacket formula which enumerates that every case concerning the consideration of bail should depend upon the filing of a charge sheet.
A Delhi court has directed to preserve CCTV camera footage.
The sacked leader also alleged that a businessman being probed for a Rs 400-crore scam funded the foreign tours of two top Aam Aadmi Party leaders.
The AAP said that the ED should wait for the court's decision instead of repeatedly sending summonses to Kejriwal.
In a blow to Kejriwal ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Delhi high court had on Tuesday upheld his arrest in the money laundering case, saying the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was left with "little option" after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.
This is the fourth supplementary and overall fifth charge sheet or prosecution complaint filed in the case by the ED before a designated special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Delhi.
Two empty chairs -- one each for jailed Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal former and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren -- were kept on stage as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) organised a mega rally in Ranchi on Ranchi.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has issued directions from the Enforcement Directorate custody to ensure that medicines and tests are available to people at all government hospitals and Mohalla Clinics, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Tuesday.
The counsel said the investigation agency had moved an application before Special Judge M K Nagpal last Friday in this regard, and the same was allowed.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday rebuked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for 'casting aspersions' on the judicial process with his claim about an approver in the money laundering case against him making donations to the Bharatiya Janata Party through electoral bonds, saying the law relating to approvers was over 100 years old and not enacted to falsely implicate the Aam Aadmi Party leader.
Congress leader Kumari Selja ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the AAP for the Haryana assembly polls.
The ED opposed Kejriwal's prayer for five meetings with his lawyer every week, saying it was against the jail manual.
Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia 'conspired' with others to frame a faulty excise policy in order to generate kickbacks and proceeds of crime to the tune of more than Rs 290 crore, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged before a court in New Delhi on Friday.
The ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21, hours after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action by the federal anti-money laundering agency.
The Union home ministry has recommended the special CAG audit taking note of a May 24 letter by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena which pointed out 'gross and prima facie financial irregularities' in the 'reconstruction' of the chief minister's official residence, they claimed.
In an interaction with PTI editors at its headquarters in New Delhi, Baniwal also said no distinction is made in the treatment meted out to the inmates and it is ensured they get the same basic right.
While extending support to his deputy, Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal said Sisodia was going to be arrested in a bid to stop him from campaigning in Gujarat.
A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan remarked that the petition was "totally misconceived" and that the court cannot grant "extraordinary interim bail" to a person holding a high office.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who headed the bench which heard Kejriwal's petition against his arrest in the case, said, "We will pronounce the interim order (on interim bail) on Friday. The main matter related to the challenge to arrest will also be taken on the same day."
The shoe, however, missed its target and the youth was nabbed.
A probe has been ordered and searches are being carried out at various places, ACB sources said. The anti-graft body is likely to write to the Delhi government to share details about the procurement of medicines.
Sisodia is presently lodged in Tihar jail number 1, where he stays in his separate cell shared with two more inmates, who are lodged in non-heinous cases, official sources said.
On the eve of Arvind Kejriwal's swearing-in as Delhi chief minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday asked its newly elected members of Legislative Assembly to be prepared for "snap polls" in near future, stating that tenability of the Aam Admi Party government with Congress support looks extremely suspect.
The one-member commission of inquiry under former solicitor general Gopal Subramanium will probe the alleged irregularities in DDCA.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the trial court judge was in a "hurry" and did not afford a reasonable opportunity to the prosecutor to oppose Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's bail in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam.
