The Supreme Court gave Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal interim bail till June 1 on Friday ahead of Lok Sabha election in Delhi, the final phase of voting for the seven-stage 2024 Lok Sabha election.
New Delhi: In a significance development in the Delhi excise policy case and, news for the AAM Adami Party after several days, the Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The bail was granted by Top Court until June 1 in the Delhi excise policy case. While pronouncing its decision, the court said it will soon pass a detailed order.
On Thursday, ED opposed the grant of any interim relief to Kejriwal stating that if “unscrupulous” politicians are given bail for campaigning, none of them can ever be arrested because elections are an “all-year-round phenomenon” in the country.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
On Tuesday, the bench hinted at granting interim bail to Kejriwal to enable him to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, it had also said that if interim bail were granted, Kejriwal would not be allowed to discharge any official duties as Chief Minister.
The Enforcement Directorate had opposed his bail in the top court, which was hearing arguments on interim bail to Kejriwal. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, also representing ED, told the bench at an earlier hearing that there can’t be any deviation only because Kejriwal is Chief Minister and asked if the Supreme Court is carving out exceptions for politicians.
“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. To this, the bench said that elections are held once every five years.
Meanwhile, the legal team of Kejriwal, had raised a strong objection to the affidavit filed by the ED opposing interim bail in the Supreme Court.
Questioning the ED’s objection to the interim bail of Kejriwal, the AAP said that it is well known that even after two years of investigation by the ED in the alleged liquor scam, not a single rupee or piece of evidence has been “recovered” incriminating anybody in Aam Aadmi Party.
(with ANI inputs)
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