Excise policy case: SC to hear Kejriwal's interim bail petition today

The Supreme Court will pass an order today on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's interim bail in the money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Wednesday told Enforcement Directorate counsel Additional Solicitor General SV Raju that it may pass the order on interim relief to Kejriwal on Friday.

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.

 

ED 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 Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, has raised a strong objection to the affidavit filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposing interim bail in the Supreme Court.

A formal complaint has been lodged with the Supreme Court's registry denouncing the ED's affidavit as a blatant disregard of legal procedures, especially considering that the matter is already slated for a final decision in the SC today and the affidavit was submitted without the SC's approval.

Questioning the ED's objection to the interim bail of CM Arvind 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.

Further, the grounds for the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal are based on statements made by other implicated persons, viz., Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Sarath Reddy, Satya Vijay Naik, and a close aide of an ex-BJP CM.

The AAP mentioned that the ED illegally 'picked up' a sitting Chief Minister and the National Convenor of a national party on March 21, that is, 5 days after the General Elections were announced and the Model Code of Conduct was put in place.

The party stated that the ED has not only been opaque and dictatorial in its approach but also guilty of suggestio falsi (suggesting falsehood) and suppressio veri (suppressing truth).

"Arvind Kejriwal's arrest constitutes an unprecedented assault on the tenets of democracy based on 'free and fair elections' and 'federalism' both of which form significant constituents of the basic structure of the Constitution. The ED abused its power of arrest in the middle of general election and while relying on the same material as was in possession months before his arrest," the party said.

Kejriwal, while filing an appeal in the apex court, contended that his arrest after the announcement of the General Elections is "motivated by extraneous considerations."

On April 9, the High Court had dismissed his plea for release from jail and rejected his argument of political vendetta amid the looming Lok Sabha elections.The High Court had said that Kejriwal's absence from nine ED summons over six months undermined any claims of special privilege as Chief Minister, suggesting his arrest was an inevitable consequence of his non-cooperation.