ED to file combined chargesheet against CM, AAP and Kavitha before May 15

NEW DELHI: ED is set to file a combined chargesheet against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party and K Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, before May 15 when Kavitha completes two months in custody in the excise scam case.
It is mandatory to file a chargesheet within two months of arrest. In the case of Kejriwal, he completes two months in judicial custody on May 21 and his plea for interim bail is to be decided by SC on Friday.
With filing of the combined chargesheet, detailing charges against Kejriwal, AAP and Kavitha, ED is likely to conclude its investigation in the case and seek the court's permission to initiate trial which has been pending for more than a year.
In its earlier submissions before courts, ED had claimed that Rs 45 crore of the kickbacks received by AAP was used by the party for its campaign in the 2022 Goa elections.
On Thursday, the agency filed an affidavit in Supreme Court contesting Kejriwal's interim bail and arguing that it would have serious ramifications on other money laundering cases in which at least 18-19 senior politicians, including a former CM and cabinet ministers, are currently in jail.
"If SC gives bail to Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor scam case, it will have direct implications in at least two dozen cases currently being investigated against top politicians in which 18-19 senior leaders are in judicial custody," a source said.
Senior politicians behind bars in money laundering cases include former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, cabinet ministers from West Bengal Partha Chatterjee and Jyotipriya Mallick, TMC MLA and former chairman of West Bengal Board of Primary Education Manik Bhattacharya, Kejriwal's colleagues Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, former Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji, Punjab MLA Jaswant Singh and former Punjab minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot.
ED said in the last five years, there have been 123 elections. "If bail is granted for the purpose of campaigning, then no politician can be arrested and kept in judicial custody since elections are an all-year-round phenomena," it said.