New Delhi, May 3: The Supreme Court on Friday said it may consider granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, in a ray of hope to the AAP chief arrested in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 and is currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta told the Enforcement Directorate(ED) that arguments on Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest are likely to take time and therefore it was considering hearing the probe agency on the issue of interim bail to him on account of Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. Delhi goes to polls on May 25.
It then told Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, to be ready with the case on May 7.
“It appears we can’t complete today. We will post it on Tuesday morning itself. Mr Raju, one more thing. If it is going to take time and it does appear to us that it may take some time, we will then consider the question of interim bail because of the elections,” the bench told Raju, who was wrapping up his arguments for the day.
Raju submitted that he will oppose bail to Kejriwal and pointed to the statements made by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh after getting bail last month in the same case.
“Just, look at the kind of statements he is making,” the ASG said.
The bench said it is putting the agency on notice about the court’s intention, so that it is not taken by surprise on May 7, when the interim bail issue will be dealt with.
“We are not commenting on it either way. We are just saying we will hear on interim bail and not saying we will grant interim bail. We may or may not grant interim bail.”
It also told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, “Just one thing more. Please also take instructions. Because of the position he holds, whether he should be signing official files?” During the hearing, Singhvi informed the bench that on March 16 the elections were announced and on March 21, Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on the basis of statements and materials which were available with the agency since last July. (PTI)
