The Supreme Court on May 10 granted interim bail to jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till June 1 in the money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi excise policy.
#Breaking_News | #ArvindKejriwal gets interim bail till 1st June pic.twitter.com/V8AM1Znsru
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A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said that Arvind Kejriwal will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.
The Bench refused the request of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Arvind Kejriwal, that the interim bail be granted till June 5 – a day after the votes are counted on June 4.
The ED arrested Kejriwal on March 21 in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
On May 7, the bench hinted at granting Kejriwal interim bail to enable him to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, it 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 for Kejriwal. “Right to campaign for an election is neither a fundamental right nor a constitutional right and not even a legal right,” ED told the bench in its fresh affidavit.
The ED said no political leader has been granted interim bail for campaigning even though he is not the contesting candidate, adding that even a contesting candidate cannot be granted interim bail for his own campaigning.
The ED’s money-laundering probe against Kejriwal stems from a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2022 on a complaint made by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena.
It has been alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by AAP leaders, including Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others to create loopholes in the Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22 to favour some liquor sellers.
On April 9, the High Court 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.
