NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Friday granted interim bail till June 1 by Supreme Court. Kejriwal, who is lodged in Tihar Jail in an alleged money laundering case in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, has been granted bail for election campaigning. The apex court rejected the AAP leader’s plea for bail till the counting of votes on June 4.A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said Kejriwal will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, opposed the granting of interim bail to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief on grounds of poll campaigning saying no such precedents are available.
The judges observed that granting Kejriwal interim bail for 21 days will not make much of a difference and said the ED’s Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was registered in August 2022 while the chief minister was arrested on March 21 this year. “He (Kejriwal) was out there for one-and-a-half-years. He could have been arrested earlier or after but nothing such thing happened,” the bench told ED.
The law officers urged the court to impose bail conditions, including that Kejriwal will not say anything regarding the excise policy case. The bench said the conditions will be similar to those imposed on AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who was given bail last month in connection with the case.
Kejriwal’s lawyer said there are no restrictions on what the Delhi chief minister can say or not say during his election campaigning. During the last hearing, the top court had made it clear that Kejriwal will not be allowed to perform any official function as Delhi chief minister if he was granted bail.
During an earlier hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED, had told the bench that there can’t be any deviation only because Kejriwal is chief minister and asked if the Supreme Court is carving out exceptions for politicians? “How can a chief cinister be treated differently from an aam aadmi? There can’t be any deviation only because he is a chief minister. Would campaigning for elections be more important?” he had told the bench. To this, the bench had said that elections are held once every five years.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
(With inputs from agencies)
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, opposed the granting of interim bail to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief on grounds of poll campaigning saying no such precedents are available.
The judges observed that granting Kejriwal interim bail for 21 days will not make much of a difference and said the ED’s Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was registered in August 2022 while the chief minister was arrested on March 21 this year. “He (Kejriwal) was out there for one-and-a-half-years. He could have been arrested earlier or after but nothing such thing happened,” the bench told ED.
The law officers urged the court to impose bail conditions, including that Kejriwal will not say anything regarding the excise policy case. The bench said the conditions will be similar to those imposed on AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who was given bail last month in connection with the case.
Kejriwal’s lawyer said there are no restrictions on what the Delhi chief minister can say or not say during his election campaigning. During the last hearing, the top court had made it clear that Kejriwal will not be allowed to perform any official function as Delhi chief minister if he was granted bail.
During an earlier hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the ED, had told the bench that there can’t be any deviation only because Kejriwal is chief minister and asked if the Supreme Court is carving out exceptions for politicians? “How can a chief cinister be treated differently from an aam aadmi? There can’t be any deviation only because he is a chief minister. Would campaigning for elections be more important?” he had told the bench. To this, the bench had said that elections are held once every five years.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
(With inputs from agencies)