The CBI on Wednesday arrested Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a corruption case related to the alleged excise scam after producing him before a city court, drawing accusations of brazen vindictiveness, dictatorship and abuse of the process of law.

The AAP leader was later sent to CBI custody for three days on an order passed by special judge Amitabh Rawat.

The CBI had produced Kejriwal before the court from Tihar jail where he is lodged in a money-laundering case linked to the excise scam being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.

The move came a day before the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear Kejriwal’s plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s interim stay on the bail granted to him by the trial court in the money-laundering case. Later, Kejriwal withdrew the plea.

Kejriwal’s wife Sunita alleged the whole system was trying to ensure that her husband did not come out of jail and this was akin to “dictatorship and emergency”.

In a post in Hindi on X, Sunita said her husband got bail on June 20 in the money-laundering case but the ED got a stay from Delhi High Court.

“The very next day, the CBI made him an accused. And today he was arrested. The whole system is trying to ensure that the man does not come out of jail. This is not law. This is dictatorship, this is emergency,” she said.

After arresting Kejriwal, the CBI filed an application in the court seeking his custody. The agency told the court that Kejriwal needed to be quizzed to unearth “the larger conspiracy” and confronted with evidence and other people accused in the case.

During the hearing, the CBI claimed that Kejriwal was “pushing the entire onus on Manish Sisodia and saying that he has no idea about the excise policy”.

The agency’s claim drew a sharp response from Kejriwal who told the court that the CBI was trying to sensationalise the case.

Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Sisodia is in jail in the same case.

“I have never given any statement that Manish Sisodia is guilty. I have given a statement that the Aam Aadmi Party, Manish Sisodia and I are not guilty,” Kejriwal told the court. “They (CBI) are sensationalising the issue. They want the newspapers to carry a front-page headline that Arvind Kejriwal has shifted the entire blame on Manish Sisodia,” he told the judge.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 and has been in jail since April 1 barring a brief period of interim bail granted by the Supreme Court for election campaigning.

On Tuesday, Delhi High Court stayed Kejriwal’s bail granted by the trial court in the ED case, saying that the lower court did not properly consider the material documents presented by the central probe agency.

The AAP on Wednesday said the BJP had Kejriwal arrested in a “fake case” by the CBI after it seemed he might get bail from the Supreme Court in the money-laundering case. The party accused the BJP of resorting to cruelty to keep Kejriwal in jail.