An Enforcement Directorate (ED) team reached Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence in Delhi after the high court refused to grant him protection from coercive action in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.
The team went to his house to serve him a summons in the case. Kejriwal had earlier skipped multiple summonses of the agency. The ED team told the CM's staff that they have a search warrant as well.
According to news agency ANI, the Delhi CM moved Supreme Court and his legal team is attempting to seek an urgent hearing on the matter.
Earlier in the day, a Delhi High Court bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain refused to grant Kejriwal any protection from coercive action in the case and listed his application for further consideration on April 22 when his main petition challenging the summons is slated for hearing.
Decrying the ED action, Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi said Arvind Kejriwal is not a person, he is an idea. She questioned the heavy security presence outside the CM's residence saying, "If this is a search operation, why have they brought four buses full of police personnel? What was the need to bring two buses full of RAF personnel? What was the need to barricade the whole area?"
She claimed that the ED is planning to arrest the Delhi CM and added that "if a popular CM is arrested this way, his supporters from all over Delhi will come here."
"The HC issued a notice today to the ED as to why are the summons not being quashed, and why interim relief shall not be provided to Arvind Kejriwal. Without waiting for the decision of the court, ED has arrived to arrest Arvind Kejriwal...This is a conspiracy to arrest him," she said.
