Arvind Kejriwal interim bail: Supreme Court likely to pronounce verdict today
The Supreme Court is expected to pronounce its verdict on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s interim bail today.
Earlier this week, a bench, headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, told the Enforcement Directorate’s counsel, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, that it may pass the order on interim relief to the Aam Aadmi Party chief on Friday.
Here are 10 points on Arvind Kejriwal’s interim bail:
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court told Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyer that if it were to give interim bail to allow him to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, he would not be allowed to work as the chief minister of Delhi.
Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyer told the court he would steer clear of files linked to the Delhi excise policy.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing ED, opposed the court’s suggestion of the interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal. He questioned how a chief minister can be treated differently than a common man.
“How can a chief minister 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. The agency said an interim bail to Kejriwal would set a wrong precedent.
Earlier, the Supreme Court questioned the Enforcement Directorate for taking two years to probe the case.
The Enforcement Directorate claimed in the court that Kejriwal had stayed in a 7-star hotel in Goa at the expense of a person who allegedly accepted illegal money for AAP’s election campaign in the state.
Arvind Kejriwal’s counsel has raised an objection to the affidavit filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposing his interim bail. His legal team claimed the affidavit betrayed blatant disregard of legal procedures.
Arvind Kejriwal moved the Supreme Court last month against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, after the Delhi high court upheld the move saying the agency had no other option as the chief minister hadn’t been joining the probe.
AAP leaders, including Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh, are accused of accepting kickbacks in return for formulating a liquor policy favourable to certain businessmen and politicians. The policy was scrapped in 2022 after Delhi LG VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21, in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the Delhi liquor policy case. He is currently in Tihar Jail under judicial custody.