New Delhi | The AAP expressed "disagreement" on Friday with a court order that sent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to the ED's custody till March 28 in connection with an excise policy-linked money-laundering case.
Addressing a press conference here minutes after the court granted Kejriwal's custody to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi minister Atishi said, "We humbly want to submit that we respectfully disagree with this court order."
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is such a law that there is no option before a court to give an accused's custody to the ED in a case lodged under its provisions, Atishi said.
"That is a reason why opposition leaders are being booked through the ED under the PMLA because getting bail in such a case is almost impossible," she claimed.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED from his official residence on Thursday evening.
Atishi alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is planning to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from behind the ED's cover and claimed that despite two years of investigation, the federal agency has failed to find any evidence worth Re 1 in the case.
"The entire ED case is based on the statements of witnesses threatened to do so," she said.
Atishi said it was a "murder" of democracy in the country that an elected chief minister was arrested when the Model Code of Conduct was in force in view of the Lok Sabha polls.
The Rouse Avenue court here has sent Kejriwal to the ED's custody till March 28. The court passed the order on Friday on the agency's plea seeking a 10-day custody of the AAP national convenor.
