Excise policy case: ED to produce Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal before court
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is expected to be produced before a special PMLA court here by the ED on Friday for obtaining his remand for custodial interrogation in the money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22, officials said.
The 55-year-old politician, also the national convenor and chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was arrested by the federal probe agency after searches at his official residence at Flagstaff Road in Civil Lines area of the national capital on Thursday.
A team of doctors and medics were seen entering the ED office in central Delhi in the morning where Kejriwal has been housed after the arrest.
The hospital staff is understood to have been called by the ED for conducting a basic medical checkup of the politician before he is taken to the court.
The ED may seek a 10-day custody of Kejriwal from the court alleging his continued "non-cooperation" in the investigation and to ascertain his personal role and that of his party in connection with the liquor policy and irregularities as alleged by the agency.
The agency may also inform the court about its requirement to confront Kejriwal with other arrested accused and witnesses including BRS leader K Kavitha, arrested last week, once they get his custody.
Kejriwal's legal defence team is expected to contest the same as they had called the ED action "illegal".
As per procedure, the agency also conducts a brief questioning of the arrestee before preparing the remand papers that are placed before the court for seeking their custody.
Meanwhile, security was strengthened around the ED office at the A P J Abdul Kalam Road and the CM's official residence with Delhi Police personnel and central armed police forces (CAPFs) personnel putting up additional barricades and throwing a security ring along the waiting press teams and curious onlookers.
Kejriwal's name has been mentioned multiple times in the charge sheets filed by the ED in this case. The agency has alleged that the accused were in touch with Kejriwal for formulating the excise policy that resulted in undue benefits to them in return for which they paid kickbacks to the AAP.
A total of 16 persons have been arrested in this case till now with the ED filing six chargesheets.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
