The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till June 1 in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped liquor policy. While granting Arvind Kejriwal interim bail, the Supreme Court said he shall not visit chief minister's office and Delhi Secretariat while he is out of jail.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in connection with the case and was subsequently sent to judicial custody. Kejriwal was lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said Kejriwal, arrested in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2. The court rejected the request of senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Arvind Kejriwal, to grant him interim bail until the declaration of results on June 4. Arvind Kejriwal Bail News LIVE Updates
While granting bail to the Delhi Chief Minister, the Supreme Court said interim bail to the AAP chief on ground of electioneering should be denied as there was no such precedent available, adding that a 21-day bail to the politician will not make much of a difference.
ED Opposed Bail To Delhi CM On Grounds Of Campaigning
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), opposed interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal on grounds of poll campaigning, saying no such precedents are available.
Observing that granting Arvind Kejriwal interim bail for 21 days will not make much of a difference, the bench 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, adding that the leader was "out there" for more than a 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," news agency PTI quoted the bench as telling the ED.
The law officers urged the court to impose bail conditions, including restriction on Arvind Kejriwal from saying anything regarding the excise policy case.
The bench, before releasing the conditions, had said that the conditions would be similar to those imposed on AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who was given bail last month in connection with the case.
The ED on Thursday also had opposed interim bail for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The ED in an affidavit filed before the apex court on Thursday had said the right to campaign for elections was "not fundamental". Reports said the affidavit was filed by the probe agency’s Deputy Director Bhanu Priya on Thursday, a day before the SC is set to hear Kejriwal's interim bail plea in the case.
ED likely to file first chargesheet against Kejriwal today
There are reports that the central probe agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to file its first chargesheet today against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped liquor policy.
For the first time, Arvind Kejriwal will be named as an accused in the case. It has been reported that ED is likely to call him the 'kingpin' as they have claimed to have established a money trail linked to Kejriwal in the Delhi Excise Policy case.
