Chat records of Kejriwal with hawala operator found, claims ED; playing to gallery, says CM

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Friday reserved its verdict on validity of Arvind Kejriwal's arrest by Enforcement Directorate which dropped a bombshell at the fag end of hearing by claiming to have unearthed chat records of the chief minister with a hawala operator relating to money laundering.Appearing before a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, additional solicitor general S V Raju submitted that the agency had in the course of investigation into the liquor ‘scam’ found new evidence against the accused. "Now we have found chats between Kejriwal and a hawala operator," he submitted.Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was countering the allegation of the agency and was about to summarise his arguments, took strong exception to Raju's allegation. He submitted that it was very unfair on the part of the agency to make such a statement at a time when the hearing was about to be completed and alleged that Raju was playing to the gallery and not addressing the court. He said that it was meant to prejudice the court."This is for the court or the media? Why was he hiding this till today? This is to create doubt at the last minute. He is not being fair," Singhvi retorted.The bench, however, went on with the hearing and reserved its order on Kejriwal's plea. It also clarified that Kejriwal can move the trial court for bail notwithstanding the fact that SC has reserved judgment and without prejudice to the contentions of the parties.Countering ED's submission. Singhvi submitted that there was no application of mind by the ED officer before arresting the CM and cited SC's recent judgement on Prabir Purkayastha petition to emphasise that the Right to Life and Personal Liberty is the most sacrosanct fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution. He said the officer gave weight to one inculpatory statement against Kejriwal while ignoring nine exculpatory statements of witnesses.Countering the allegation that Kejriwal demanded bribes, he said that the CM should have been named as an accused in the predicate offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. "Over one-and-half years, they conducted investigation. No action was taken against Kejriwal. There was no necessity to arrest him based on material that was there with ED from July-August 2023," Singhvi submitted.Questioning the credibility of witnesses who gave statements against Kejriwal, Singhvi alleged that P Sarat Reddy made electoral bonds donations to the BJP and not trustworthy enough to put the CM behind bars.ED had on Thursday said that their case against Kejriwal was not based on Reddy's testimony alone.