Delhi excise policy case: Supreme Court ‘may consider’ granting bail to Kejriwal in wake of polls
Delhi excise policy case: Supreme Court ‘may consider’ granting bail to Kejriwal in wake of polls
In a major political development, the Supreme Court of India (SC) said on Friday (May 3) that it may consider giving bail to jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the wake of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. It also asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the central agency pursuing a case against Kejriwal, to come prepared on May 7, the next when the matter is up for hearing.
However, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta cautioned no party should assume that the bail will be granted and they “may or may not grant interim bail.”
“The Court is just being open about what is in its mind. It does not want to catch the parties by surprise”, the judges noted.
The justices passed these remarks as they were hearing a bail plea moved by Arvind Kejriwal against his arrest on March 21. The court in earlier hearings had said the ED would have to justify the timing of the arrest since he was detained just days after implementation of the Model Code of Conduct.
Justice Khanna had told ASG SV Raju, representing ED, “Liberty is very exceedingly important, you can’t deny that. The last question is with regard to the timing of the arrest, which they (Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyer) have pointed out, the timing of the arrest, soon before the general elections.”
During the May 3 hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Kejriwal, said that no “proceeds of crime” have been recovered from the Delhi CM so far and the thresholds of the custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, (PMLA) have not been met.
On the flip side, the ED maintains that it has material evidence to justify the arrest.
“Criminal” politicians cannot expect immunity from arrest because they want to campaign for elections, the agency had said in a court filing.
The ED is pursuing Kejriwal in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Previously, the Delhi High Court had upheld Kejriwal’s arrest, saying that the agency had no other option because the CM was not cooperating with the authorities.
(With inputs from agencies)