Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail To Arvind Kejriwal (image:x.com/ArvindKejriwal)
The Supreme Court granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. The order came as the Court was hearing Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case in connection with the now-scrapped excise policy case.
The Bench stated that certain legal questions posed by Delhi CM in his plea challenging his arrest need to be taken into consideration by a larger bench of the apex court. Therefore, the Court found it fit to release Kejriwal on interim bail.
However, despite receiving bail in the ED case, AAP leader will continue to remain in jail since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has detained him in relation to the same case.
Also Read | Excise Policy Case: Manish Sisodia’s Judicial Custody Extended Till July 15
On May 17, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, has reserved the judgement on Kejriwal’s petition. Meanwhile, the Court also granted Kejriwal liberty to move the trial court for regular bail.
The Court stated today that the legal question pertaining “necessity to arrest” under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) need to be considered by a larger bench of the top court.
While reading out the interim bail order, Justice Sanjiv Khanna said: “Arvind Kejriwal has suffered incarceration for more than 90 days. He is an elected leader and it is upto him whether he wants to continue in the role or not.”
Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the ED and on April 9, he challenged the order of the Delhi High Court which upheld his arrest in the case.
The high court upheld the AAP chief’s arrest in the case stating that there was no illegality since the ED was left with “little option” after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation. Kejriwal has skipped nine probe agency summons.
Earlier, the top court granted 21-day interim bail to AAP supremo on May 10. During this bail period, he was allowed to participate in election campaigns and instructed to surrender on June 2, a day after the last phase of the seven-phased Lok Sabha polls was scheduled to end.
Also Read | ED Files Ninth Charge-Sheet In Delhi Excise Policy Case
Though he was granted bail from Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on June 20, the Delhi High Court on next day, halted the release order till it reviews the case after the ED moved the high court against the lower court’s bail order. On June 21, the high court also passed a detailed order suspending the trail court’s order.
As the bail order proceedings were ongoing, on June 26, the CBI arrested AAP chief in connection with the excise policy scam.
