Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was given temporary bail until the first of June today. Supreme Court. Kejriwal, who is currently imprisoned at Tihar in connection with a case of money laundering relating to Delhi’s past excise tax regime, has been granted interim bail for campaigning. The Supreme Court has refused to give bail plea till 4th June sought by AAP leader for counting of votes. Returned back to prison on 2nd June.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appearing for the Enforcement Directorate opposed granting interim bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief citing poll campaign saying there was no such precedent.
The judges observed that grant Kejriwal granted interim bail 21 days will not have much impact and said the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) of the Ministry of Education was registered in August 2022 while the Chief Minister was arrested on March 21st this year. The judge told ED “He (Kejriwal) stayed there for a year and a half, well he could have been arrested earlier or later but nothing like that happened.”
Law enforcement officials urged court to impose bails conditions including that Kejriwal would keep silent in respect to GST policy case. He added that these terms would be similar to those imposed on Sanjay Singh the leader of AAP who had recently been given bail concerning this matter.
Kejriwal’s lawyer said there were no restrictions on what Delhi chief minister could say about during his election campaign or what could not be said. In its previous hearing, Supreme Court had made it clear if he was released on bail then none of the official functions as Delhi CM shall be performed by him.
Earlier during the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Education Ministry, told the bench that just because Kejriwal is CM doesn’t mean there is room for any deviation and asked the Supreme Court if it Makes exceptions for politicians? “How can the chief minister be treated differently from aam aadmi? There cannot be any deviation just because he is the chief minister. Will the campaign be more important?” he had told the bench. The elections occur every five years in this regard, as stated by an MP.
Kejriwal was arrested by ED on March 21st in connection with a money laundering probe into alleged irregularities of Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
