The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to come prepared for a hearing on the interim bail plea of jailed Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday, May 7. The Supreme Court said it may consider hearing Arvind Kejriwal's interim bail plea on account of polls in Delhi if arguments in main case are going to take time.
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in a Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case on March 21. He is currently lodged in Tihar jail as part of his judicial custody.
The Supreme Court last month asked Arvind Kejriwal why he has not filed a bail application before the trial court. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta were hearing Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest by the ED when it asked him this.
"You did not move any application for bail before the trial court?" the bench asked senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who appeared in the court on behalf of Arvind Kejriwal.
Replying to the bench, Singhvi said they have approached the Supreme Court because it has "wider jurisdiction".
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court dismissed a plea challenging the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case, saying it is not maintainable. The high court said Kejriwal admittedly has the means and wherewithal to approach the court and file appropriate proceedings.
While the order was passed on May 1, the detailed verdict was made available on Friday.
The high court said the direction sought in the petition to the Centre to provide information of the arrest of a political party leader or a candidate to the Election Commission of India (ECI) when the model code of conduct (MCC) is in force belies the petitioner’s legal understanding with respect to the rule of law.
“This court is of the view that the present writ petition which effectively challenges the arrest of the national convenor of AAP … is not maintainable as the said person is in judicial custody in pursuance to judicial orders, which are not a subject matter of the present petition. The petition conspicuously fails to name the person though the identity is apparent due to the references made to his political standing/position,” news agency PTI quoted a bench of acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora as saying.
