Arvind Kejriwal's ED custody extended till April 1 

Delhi's Rouse Avenue court on Thursday extended Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's ED custody till April 1 in the liquor police case. The ED, while seeking further remand of 7 days, stated that data in one mobile phone belonging to Kejriwal's wife has been extracted and is being analysed. However, data from the other 4 digital devices seized during a search on March 21 belonging to the chief minister are yet to be extracted.

The ED sought a seven-day extension of the custody of Kejriwal, saying it wanted to confront him with his party leaders summoned from Goa. ASG Raju, appearing for the ED, said the probe agency had material to prove that Kejriwal demanded Rs 100 crore kickbacks from 'South Group'. The ED has alleged that Rs 100 crore received as a bribe was used by the AAP in the Goa elections. 

Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 and was sent to remand till March 28 by the court. Today, as he entered the court premises, Kejriwal said: "This is a political conspiracy. The people will give an answer." 

Arguing his case, Kejriwal asserted that the motive of the ED was to crush the AAP. He said the ED's only mission was to "trap" him in the now-withdrawn liquor policy case. "I am not opposing the remand petition of the ED. The ED can keep me in custody for as many days as it wants. But this is a scam," the Delhi CM said.

"The ED had two objectives. One is to crush AAP, and the second is to create a smokescreen and run an extortion racket behind it through which they are collecting money," Kejriwal further said.

Meanwhile, the ED on Thursday questioned AAP's Goa unit president Amit Palekar and three others in connection with a money laundering case. The agency had summoned Palekar, AAP leader Ramrao Wagh, and two others – Dattaprasad Naik and Ashok Naik – for questioning in a case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Although details of the case are yet to be known, sources told PTI they were called for questioning in the money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, in which Kejriwal and some other AAP leaders have been arrested. Dattaprasad and Ashok are leaders of the Bhandari community in Goa.