Hours after the High Court denied him relief, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals lead team on Thursday evening rushed to the Supreme Court seeking protection from any coercive action by the Enforcement Directorate in an excise policy-linked money laundering case. Sources said the AAP national convenor approached the top court seeking an urgent hearing of his petition after a High Court division bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait refused to grant him interim protection. The High Court has listed Kejriwals application seeking protection from coercive action for further consideration on April 22, when his main petition challenging the Enforcement Directorates summons has been fixed for hearing. A bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait listed the AAP leaders application seeking protection for further consideration on April 22 when his main petition challenging the summons is fixed for hearing, and asked the Enforcement Directorate to file its response. "We have heard both sides and we are not inclined at this stage (to grant protection). The respondent is at liberty to file reply," the bench, also comprising Justice Manoj Jain, said. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) placed before the court the documents pertaining to the probe and said there was material to show the necessity to call Kejriwal for questioning. The application for interim relief forms part of Kejriwals petition challenging the EDs summonses issued to him for questioning. Kejriwal had moved the court in the wake of the latest summons, the ninth issued by the ED, asking him to appear before it on Thursday. During the hearing, Senior Advocate AM Singhvi, representing the AAP chief, also sought deferment of the summons issued for today. "It is already over. Time is over. He is not attending," Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, said, contending that a person who "flouts the law" is not entitled to be heard. Singhvi submitted that Kejriwals arrest was imminent as there was an attempt to create a "non-level playing field" for the upcoming general elections even though there was no necessity to apprehend him after several charge sheets have already been filed before the trial court. "If I appear, I will be arrested without any cause or reason. You are calling me from last year. Could you not wait for two more months?" the senior lawyer said, adding the federal agency can arrest him in June after the elections are over. The summonses, he added, were vague, frivolous, for a "roving and fishing inquiry" and a "ploy" for his "illegal arrest" amidst elections. On being queried by the court as to what prevented him from filing a plea for anticipatory bail in the matter, Singhvi said it was unclear if the CM was being called as a witness or suspect. Opposing the grant of protection from coercive action, ASG Raju said Kejriwal was being called for questioning in his individual capacity in a case that has been "tested" by several courts and the agency has not said anything on his arrest. "When did we say we want to arrest? We may arrest, we may not. Our right (to arrest) is there. We said, come and give explanation," said the senior law officer. "The matter is tested by rejection of a large number of bail of co-accused. Predicate offence is there. Money laundering is made out," he added. ASG Raju said no relief with respect to protection from coercive action can be granted by the court when the main petition itself is not maintainable, and the law remains the same even for a chief minister.  Raju also said Kejriwals plea for protection on the ground that a political party cant be brought within the ambit of the money laundering law was based on a "figment of imagination at this stage". "We are calling him in his individual capacity. Tomorrow, something may happen. Vicarious liability is also there," Raju said, apparently referring to Kejriwal not holding any ministerial portfolio but heading the government.  "If relief is granted, FIR will be quashed as far as AAP is concerned. It cant be done. Neither AAP nor Arvind Kejriwal are named as accused," he said. The submission was opposed by Singhvi who said, "Conceptually, there was nothing" for roping in the CM if not as the AAP convenor. "There is nothing except the approver statement... My arrest is imminent. It is the leadership of AAP not individual (that is under scrutiny)," he argued. Singhvi also contended that all summonses were issued either at the time of an election or his Vipassana trips, including the latest summons which was issued on the day the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections was announced. He said Kejriwal cannot have a "sword hanging amidst the elections" and asked why his questioning cannot be permitted through virtual mode or under the protective orders of the court. On Wednesday, the court had asked the investigating agency to file a response to Kejriwals petition which sought sections 19, 45 and 50 of the PMLA, which deal with arrest, questioning and grant of bail, to be declared as unconstitutional. The petition also prayed for quashing and setting aside of all proceedings, including the summonses, against Kejriwal in his capacity as the national convenor of a political party or as the chief minister or in any other capacity in the ED case. In the petition, Kejriwal said he is a "vocal critic" of the ruling party, an opposition leader and a partner in the INDIA bloc, and the ED, being under the Centres control, has been "weaponised". Addressing a press conference, Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Atishi said that it was a big victory for them that the high court did not dismiss Kejriwals interim relief application despite strong opposition by the Enforcement Directorate and agreed to hear it later.  She said that legal options will be considered when asked whether the refusal of the high court to grant protection to Kejriwal against coercive action by the ED will be challenged in the Supreme Court.  Atishi alleged that the BJP wanted to get Kejriwal arrested by using the Enforcement Directorate to stop him from campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls. "Delhi CM Kejriwal wants to join the ED investigation and cooperate with the agency. But, we believe that the ED is not an independent agency. It does not want to conduct investigation. It is a political tool of the BJP," Atishi charged in a video message ahead of the High Court hearing in the morning.  "The ED wants to arrest Kejriwal by summoning him. If the intentions of the ED are clear, the agency should say in the court that Arvind Kejriwal will not be arrested by it," she said. Taking a dig at Kejriwal, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva along with former Delhi BJP president Vijendra Gupta said addressing a joint press in the presence of media head Praveen Shankar Kapoor, said that the High Court has exposed Kejriwal in Delhi, and now it is clear that Arvind Kejriwal is the real culprit behind the liquor and jal board scams in Delhi.  Kapoor said that the crackdown on the political corruption of the Kejriwal government is now imminent. Sachdeva demanded that if Kejriwal has even a bit of morality left he should resign from his position as CM and cooperate in the ED investigation.

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