Kejriwal ‘evasive’ on accused Vijay Nair, said he reported to Atishi & Saurabh Bhardwaj, ED tells court

Agency said Delhi CM was not answering questions, questioning authenticity of digital evidence, not sharing passwords of his devices. Kejriwal sent to judicial custody till 15 April.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the Rouse Avenue court in New Delhi on Monday | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

MAYANK KUMAR, The Print, 02 April, 2024, New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Monday told the special CBI court that when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was asked to explain his interactions with excise policy case accused Vijay Nair, the former campaign manager of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), he said Nair reported to his cabinet colleagues Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj.

In its remand application moved to seek the CM’s judicial custody, the ED said Kejriwal was giving evasive replies and concealing information including his relationship with Nair, with whom he said his interactions were limited. ThePrint has seen the application.

The federal agency, which is probing the money laundering case originating from alleged irregularities in formulating and implementing the Delhi excise policy for 2021-22, and the alleged kickbacks to AAP, produced Kejriwal in court as his second round in agency custody ended Monday afternoon.

The Delhi CM was arrested on 21 March and after a cumulative custody of 10 days, the agency did not seek custody and told the court it would move an application for the same when needed. The court then sent Kejriwal to judicial custody till 15 April.

Special CBI judge Kaveri Baweja approved judicial custody of Kejriwal in the afternoon. His applications for home-cooked food, medicines and supplements necessary for his diabetes management, along with three books — the Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita and Neerja Chowdhury’s  How Prime Ministers Decide — were approved later in the evening.

‘Evasive replies’

The ED, in its remand application for judicial custody, stated that Kejriwal was confronted with its finding that Nair was working from his (Kejriwal’s) camp office, which could not have been possible for someone reporting to other cabinet members and not the Delhi CM.

Notably, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi were inducted into the Kejriwal-led Delhi cabinet last year after two of its members — former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and former health minister Satyendar Jain — resigned following their arrests. 

The ED further claimed in the remand application that officers probing the case confronted Kejriwal with evidence of Nair having attended more than 10 meetings with the stakeholders of the policy and in what capacity.

“On being asked about the extent of interaction and reporting of Vijay Nair to the arrestee, he stated that Vijay Nair didn’t report to him but to Atishi Marlena and Saurabh Bhardwaj and his interaction with Sh Vijay Nair was limited. However, the statements of Vijay Nair himself reveals that he stayed in a Cabinet Minister’s bungalow and worked from the Camp office of the CM. It was also put to the arrestee to explain that why would someone, who reported to other leaders of AAP, work from his camp office which anyways is meant for the work of the CM of Delhi and not for the party (sic),” the ED submitted in its remand application.

It further said: “Arvind Kejriwal evaded replying to this by claiming unawareness to the persons who work at the CM Camp office. It is noteworthy that Sh Vijay Nair is not some small-time volunteer of AAP but is its head of Media and Communications. He was also shown different WhatsApp chats showing the involvement of Vijay Nair, who was a close associate of the arrestee and lived and worked very closely with the arrestee. The arrestee has not answered the questions posed to him by questioning the authenticity of digital evidence shown to him.”

‘BJP has realised that just Kejriwal’s arrest won’t cripple AAP’

Responding to the mention of Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj in the remand application, AAP spokesperson Jasmine Shah questioned the motive of bringing up year-old information already given by Nair at this time of his custody.

“Two of our senior leaders who are Delhi cabinet ministers have been named only because the BJP has assessed that the party won’t cripple only with the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal and that two-three more leaders should be settled,” Shah said in a statement to the media.

The ED submitted that Kejriwal was also confronted with the details of hawala transactions to the tune of approximately Rs 45 crore which was spent in the Goa assembly elections, to which the Delhi CM expressed “unawareness”.

Additionally, the agency claimed Kejriwal has not cooperated so far in the investigation by not answering questions, questioning the authenticity of the digital evidence, and refusing to share passwords of his digital devices, which “inhibits evidence collection”.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)