On March 21, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) took Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal into custody in connection with the liquor scam case. Allegations of corruption amounting to over 100 crore rupees have been leveled against Delhi’s Chief Minister and other leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party. In continuation of this, Yesterday (March 28), the ED requested Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court to extend Arvind Kejriwal’s custody by seven days. Meanwhile, it is being claimed on social media that yesterday Arvind Kejriwal made the Additional Advocate General (ASG) and the judge speechless in the court.
Aam Aadmi Party supporting X handle named AAP Ka Mehta wrote, “Arvind Kejriwal in Court : Why have you arrested me? ASG Raju : We have a statement against you. Kejriwal : So if I say I gave 100 crores to Modi and Amit Shah, will you go and arrest them based on my statement? Judge and ASG both went quiet.”
SAVAGE BY ARVIND KEJRIWAL
— AAP Ka Mehta 🇮🇳 (@DaaruBaazMehta) March 28, 2024
Arvind Kejriwal in Court : Why have you arrested me?
ASG Raju : We have a statement against you.
Kejriwal : So if I say I gave 100 crores to Modi and Amit Shah, will you go and arrest them basd on my statement?
Judge and ASG both went quiet 😂😂😂…
Left-leaning media outlet The Wire’s staunch Islamist journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani stated in her show, “What happened in Delhi Court today is historic. Arvind Kejriwal will become such a Chief Minister of the country who will run the government from inside the jail and is preparing for the elections. In the court, Arvind Kejriwal asked ASG why did you arrest me? ASG said, because there was a statement against you. Arvind Kejriwal – Okay, I say, I gave Rs 100 crore to Modi and Amit Shah, will you arrest them? The ASG and the entire court became silent.”
Aam Aadmi Party’s MLA Naresh Balyan wrote, “Today in the court hearing- Arvind Kejriwal in court – Why did you arrest me? ED lawyer – Because there was a statement against you, Arvind Kejriwal – Okay, I say, gave 100 crores to Modi and Amit Shah, will you arrest them? Silence in the ED lawyer and the entire court room.”
आज कोर्ट की सुनवाई में–
— Naresh Balyan (@AAPNareshBalyan) March 28, 2024
अरविंद केजरीवाल कोर्ट में– आपने मुझे गिरफ्तार क्यों किया?
ED वकील– क्यों की आपके खिलाफ स्टेटमेंट था,
अरविंद केजरीवाल– ठीक है, मैं कहता हूं मोदी और अमित शाह को 100 करोड़ दिया, आप उन्हे गिरफ्तार कर लोगे?
ED वकील और पूरे कोर्ट रूम में सन्नाटा।…
X handle named Ravish Kumar Parody wrote, “Arvind Kejriwal in court: Why did you arrest me? ASG Raju: We have the statement against you. Arvind Kejriwal: So if I say that I gave 100 crores to Modi and Amit Shah, will you arrest them on the basis of my statement? Silence in the court.”
अरविंद केजरीवाल कोर्ट में: आपने मुझे क्यों गिरफ्तार किया?
— Ravish Kumar ᴾᵃʳᵒᵈʸ © (@SirRavishFC) March 28, 2024
एएसजी राजू: हमारे पास आपके खिलाफ बयान है।#ArvindKejriwal : तो अगर मैं कहूं कि मैंने मोदी और अमित शाह को 100 करोड़ दिए, तो क्या आप मेरे बयान के आधार पर उन्हें गिरफ्तार करेंगे?
कोर्ट में सन्नाटा 😂🤣😂
Apart from this, Roshan Rai, Kavya AAP, Ankit Lal, Beatalpret, Don, Sanjvats, Anahat Sagar, Ankush Chaudhary, and Ravinder Nadhori also made similar claims.
Also Read: Advocate Suryanarayan Who Fought Against Bhagat Singh, Not Associated with RSS
Fact Check
To investigate the claim, we turned to Live Law, a website that reports live court proceedings on X. According to Live Law, the hearing of Arvind Kejriwal started at 2 pm yesterday and ended at 2:39 pm. The Chief Minister of Delhi tried to record his statement by speaking. In the arguments given in the court published by Live Law, we did not find a single statement in the argument between Arvind Kejriwal and ASG Raju in which Arvind was saying to ASG “I say that 100 crores were given to Modi and Amit Shah, Will you arrest them?”
According to Live Law, Arvind Kejriwal said, “This case has been going on since two years ago. CBI case was filed on August 2022. Then ECIR file appeared. I have been arrested. No court has found me guilty nor have I been accused. ED has filed almost 25,000 pages and has brought many witnesses.”
Kejriwal: Ye case do saal pehle se chalrha Hain. August 2022 ko CBI ka case file hua tha. Fir ECIR file Hui thi. Mujhe giriftaar Kia Hain. Na mujhe kisi court ne doshi karaar Kia Hain na hi aarop taye hue Hain.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2024
ED lagbhag 25000 pages file kar chuki hai aur bohot witnesses ko la…
Arvind Kejriwal further said, “A lot of ministers come to my house, they gossip among themselves, give documents. Is this statement enough to arrest a sitting Chief Minister?”
Kejriwal refers to C Arvind ‘s statement.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2024
Kejriwal: Mere Ghar pe dhero mantri aate Hain, wo aapas me khusir phusur karte Hain, documents dete Hain. Kya ye statement ek sitting CM ko arrest krne ke lie sufficient hai?#ArvindKejriwal #ED
The Delhi Chief Minister further says, “They were taking statement after statement until the (MSR) were not giving statement against me. This means the ED’s intention was to trap me.”
Court: I’ll not allow more than 5 minutes.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2024
Kejriwal: Statements pe statements ho rahe the jab Tak wo (MSR) mere khilaaf statement nahi de rahe the. Iska matlab ED ka intention mujhe phasana tha.
Kejriwal now cites Raghav Magunta’s statement. He says, “He has 5 statements, he says only what he said. After his father’s statements change, he is released. These six statements in which he does not speak about me are not brought on record.”
Kejriwal now refers to Raghav Magunta’s statement.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2024
Unke 5 statements hote hain, wo whi bolte hai Jo unhone bola. Jab unke pitaji statement badalte hain, uske baad unhe chord Diya jata Hain. Ye Jo 6 statements Hain jisme wo mere baare me nahi bolte Hain wo record pe nahi laya…
Kejriwal further says, “I just want to know, are these 4 statements enough to arrest a sitting Chief Minister?’ The one lakh pages which are in the ED office in our favor are not brought on record.”
Kejriwal: Mai kewal ye janna chahta hu, kya ye 4 statements ek sitting CM ko arrest krne ke lie sufficient hai?
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2024
Ek lakh page Jo ED ke daftar me Hain humare favour me wo record pe nahi laya jaata hain.
Arvind Kejriwal said, “Now I want to say where is this liquor scam money.”
Kejriwal: Ab Mai kehna chahta hu ki ye sharaab ghotaale ke paise aakhir Hain kaha.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2024
Kejriwal refers to SC judgement, says “Ye Jo 100 crores bolrahe hain wo toh asal me ye kahin nahi Hain. Ye asli sharab ghotala shuru hota Hain ED ki investigation ke baad.”
Kejriwal cited the decision of the Supreme Court and said that those who are saying Rs 100 crore are not actually here. This real liquor scam starts after ED investigation. Kejriwal accuses ED and says that the objective of ED is to crush the Aam Aadmi Party.
Kejriwal says that motive of ED is to crush the Aam Aadmi party. #ArvindKejriwal #ED
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2024
Kejriwal further said, “Sarath Reddy donated Rs 55 crore to BJP. I have proof that this racket is going on. Money trail is established. He gave Rs 50 crore to BJP after being arrested.”
Kejriwal: Sarath Reddy ne 55 crores ka donation BJP ko Diya. Mere paas saboot Hain ki ye racket chal Raha Hain. Money trail is established. He donated 50 crores to BJP after being arrested. #ArvindKejriwal #ED
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2024
Arvind Kejriwal ends his talk by saying, “We accept as many days as ED wants to keep us on remand.”
Kejriwal: Jitne din ED hume remand pe rakhna chahe hume manzoor hain. #ArvindKejriwal #ED
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) March 28, 2024
After Arvind Kejriwal’s statement, his lawyer Ramesh Gupta begins to present his arguments. In addition to Live Law, we took the help of live reporting from Bar & Bench which reports on legal matters. According to the reporting done by Bar & Bench, Arvind Kejriwal has not mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah anywhere in his argument.
According to Bar & Bench, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “I want to express my gratitude to the ED officials… This case has been going on for two years. I was arrested, no court has proven me guilty. CBI has filed 31 thousand pages and ED has filed 25 thousand pages. Even if you read them together, why have I been arrested? My name has appeared in 4 places, that’s all. One is C Arvind who said that he gave some documents to Sisodia in my presence. MLAs come to my house every day. Is this statement enough to arrest a sitting Chief Minister? ED’s mission was only to trap me. Three statements were given and out of them only the one in which I was implicated was brought before the court… Why? This is not right? He made seven statements. My name is not in the sixth. As soon as my name appears in the seventh statement, it is dropped.”
Kejriwal further said “Next is Sarath Reddy… I want to know whether these 4 statements are enough to arrest the sitting Chief Minister? There are thousands of pages in the ED office which prove our innocence, why are they not brought forward? If there is a liquor scam of Rs 100 crore then where is that money? The real liquor scam begins after the ED investigation. ED had two objectives. One is to destroy AAP, create a smokescreen and run an extortion racket behind it through which they are collecting money. Sarath Reddy donated Rs 55 crore to BJP. I have proof that this racket is going on. Money trail is established. Even after being arrested he gave Rs 50 crore to BJP. We are not opposing ED’s remand. They can keep me in custody for as many days as they wants. But this is a scam.”
Enforcement Directorate (ED) will produce Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal before Rouse Avenue Court today.
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) March 28, 2024
Kejriwal to be produced at 2PM.#ArvindKejriwalArrest @dir_ed @AamAadmiParty @ArvindKejriwal pic.twitter.com/B7gdiXV1e5
Apart from this, we found a tweet by The New Indian journalist Atul Krishan on X. Atul wrote in response to AAP Ka Mehta’s tweet, “I am in the courtroom, nothing happened like this.”
I am in the Courtroom, nothing happened like this https://t.co/iuceVp4Hjt
— Atulkrishan (@iAtulKrishan1) March 28, 2024
Upon further investigation, we found a tweet by journalist Gaurav Srivastav on X, who responded to Roshan Rai’s claim, “For your information, as a court reporter, let me tell you that no such question has been answered in the court.”
बतौर कोर्ट रिपोर्टर आप लोगों की जानकारी के लिए बता दूं कोर्ट में ऐसा कोई सवाल जवाब नहीं हुआ है https://t.co/ZYNmSS3xfp
— Gaurav Srivastav (@gauravnewsman) March 28, 2024
Conclusion: The claim made by Aam Aadmi Party supporters and Islamist journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani of leftist media The Wire is completely baseless. This is a propaganda. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did not even take the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in his 40-minute appearance.
Claim | Arvind Kejriwal made the Additional Advocate General (ASG) and the judge speechless in the court |
Claimed by | AAP Ka Mehta, Arfa Khanum, Naresh Balyan, etc |
Fact Check | Misleading and Propaganda |