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5. The brief background of the case is that the present case has been registered by the Directorate of Enforcement in relation to the predicate offence case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation ('CBI'). On 17.08.2022, case bearing RC No. 0032022A0053 had been registered by the CBI for offences punishable under Section 120B read with Section 447A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC') and Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, ('PC Act') on the basis of a complaint dated 20.07.2022 made by the Lieutenant Governor, GNCTD and the directions of competent authority conveyed by Director, Ministry of Home Affairs ('MHA'), Government of India, through letter dated 22.07.2022 and also based on some sourced information, in relation to the irregularities committed in framing and implementation of excise policy of GNCTD for the year 2021-2022. The CBI had filed a chargesheet dated 25.11.2022, cognizance of which was taken by the learned Special Court on 15.12.2022. Thereafter, on 25.04.2023 and 08.07.2023, two supplementary chargesheets had also been filed before the learned Special Court respectively, against a total of 16 accused persons. It is the case of CBI that while the excise policy of GNCTD was at the stage of formulation or drafting, the accused persons had hatched a criminal conspiracy, in furtherance of which some loopholes had intentionally been left or created in the policy, which were meant to be utilised or exploited later on. Further, huge amount of money was paid as kickbacks in advance to the public servants involved in commission of the alleged offences and in exchange of undue pecuniary benefits to the conspirators involved in the liquor trade. As alleged, kickbacks of around Rs. 20-30 crores in advance were paid to accused Sh. Vijay Nair, Sh. Manish Sisodia and some other persons belonging to the ruling political party in Delhi, and the other public servants involved in conspiracy by some persons in the liquor business from South India ('South Group') and these kickbacks were found to have been returned back to them subsequently out of the profit margins of wholesalers holding L-l licences and also through the credit notes issued by the L-l licensees to the retail zone licensees ('L-7Z') related to the South liquor lobby. It is further alleged that as a result of criminal conspiracy, a cartel was formed between three components of the said policy, i.e. liquor manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, by violating provisions and the spirit of liquor policy, and all the conspirators had played an active role to achieve the illegal objectives of the said criminal conspiracy, result in huge losses to the Government exchequer and undue pecuniary benefits to the public servants and other accused involved in the said conspiracy.

The Role of Petitioner in Demanding Kickbacks & Petitioner's Meetings with the South Liquor Lobby

48. It is also the case of Directorate of Enforcement that the petitioner had demanded kickbacks from the 'South Group' in exchange of awarding favours to them in the formulation and implementation of the Excise Policy 2021-22.

A. In support of this claim, reliance has been placed on the statement of Sh. Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, recorded on 16.07.2023 under Section 50 of PMLA and on 17.07.2023 under Section 164 of Cr.P.C. wherein he had revealed that during March 2021, he had sought a meeting with the petitioner Sh. Kejriwal regarding liquor business in Delhi, and the office of the petitioner had communicated to Sh. Magunta S. Reddy that he could meet him on 16.03.2021 at 04:30 PM. During the meeting, Sh. Kejriwal had informed him that Ms. K. Kavitha, had already approached him for carrying out liquor business in Delhi and had offered to pay Rs. 100 crores to Aam Aadmi Party, and that Sh. Magunta Reddy could talk to her about the same. Subsequently, Sh. Magunta Reddy had met Ms. K. Kavitha on 20.03.2021, when she had asked for Rs. 50 crore. Due to his MP duties, Sh. Magunta Reddy had delegated negotiations to his son Sh. Raghav Magunta. Sh. Raghav had informed Sh. Magunta Reddy that they had agreed to pay Rs. 30 crore to Ms. Kavitha, of which Rs. 25 crore was paid to her associates Buchi Babu and Abhishek Boinpalli.

74. Thus, this Court having gone through the documents and the statements handed over to it by Directorate of Enforcement for the purpose of passing of this order to reach a conclusion as to whether Directorate of Enforcement had sufficient material in its possession for the arrest and remand of Sh. Kejriwal including the evidence regarding the money trail, and also having gone through the material as mentioned in the preceding paragraph reaches a conclusion that once the proceeds of crime which were allegedly received in the form of kickbacks through the South Group were spent on Goa Elections, which is corroborated by the statements of the approver who has allegedly given kickbacks for Goa Elections and the statements of Hawala operators and the candidate of Aam Aadmi Party itself regarding receipt of cash amount through Hawala channels and meeting the petitioner in Goa and their conversation regarding cash amounts for expenditure on Goa elections etc., the absence of or non- recovery of such proceeds in these circumstances can be of little value or importance as part of the money already stands spent as per the statements placed on record of those individuals on whom this money was spent and those who had given the money as well as those through whom the money was sent.

78. To summarise, the material which has been encapsulated hereinabove reveals that Sh. Arvind Kejriwal had allegedly conspired with other persons and was involved in the formulation of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, in the process of demanding kickbacks from the South Group, as well as in generation, use and concealment of proceeds of crime. He is allegedly involved in the offence of money laundering in two capacities. Firstly, in his personal capacity as he was involved in formulation of the Excise Policy and in demanding kickbacks. Secondly, in his capacity as the National Convenor of Aam Aadmi Party as per Section 70(1) of PMLA, for use of proceeds of crime of Rs. 45 crores in the election campaign of Aam Aadmi Party in Goa Elections 2022, which are prima facie apparent from the material relied upon by the respondent in this regard as well as the statement recorded on 08.03.2024 of one of the candidates of Aam Aadmi Party in Goa Elections 2022, which has been discussed hereinabove.