In a major relief, Delhi Chief Minister & AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court of India. A few days back, the Supreme Court had made it clear that it would consider granting interim bail to Delhi CM Kejriwal as he is not a habitual offender. Not only this, the apex court had pointed out that since Lok Sabha Elections are going on, elected leaders need to campaign. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta heard the matter on Friday and granted Arvind Kejriwal an interim bail till June 1, the last phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 voting. Below is what the Supreme Court said on Arvind Kejriwal-s interim bail-
Justice Khanna said, "we are passing an interim order...giving him interim bail till 1st June"
Kejriwal's lawyer Singhvi countered, "Results are on 4th..."
Justice Khanna said, "No. Campaigning stops 48 hrs before"
ASG Raju representing ED said, " He may not say anything on this case"
Justice Khanna replied, "Like in Sanjay Singh's matter...you're entitled to counter him with equally strong statements"
"On 2nd, he will surrender," Justine Khanna added.
SG Mehta said, "He must not speak about case. Must surrender"
Justice Khanna replied, "21 days here or there should not make a difference."
Notably, the Supreme Court has made it clear that Arvind Kejriwal will have to surrender on June 2 despite the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 results coming on June 4. Not only this, Arvind Kejriwal has been denied to speak anything about the ongoing Delhi liquor policy case. During the last hearing, Arvind Kejriwal's lawyer had also assured that he will not perform duties of a Chief Minister and will not sign any documents.
Arvind Kejriwal has been under custody since his arrest on March 21. ED filed a new affidavit on Thursday opposing the grant of interim bail for Kejriwal for election campaigning. ED said that an election campaign cannot be a ground for bail as it is not a fundamental or legal right. ED also said that granting bail would create a wrong precedent.
Questioning the ED's objection to the interim bail of Kejriwal, the AAP said it is well known that even after two years of investigation by the ED in the alleged liquor policy scam, not a single rupee or piece of evidence has been recovered incriminating anybody in the Aam Aadmi Party.
Further, the grounds of the arrest of Kejriwal are based on statements made by other implicated persons in the case, viz. Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Sarath Reddy, Satya Vijay Naik, and a close aide of an ex-BJP CM, the AAP claimed.
The ED has relied solely on the statements of these accused-turned-witnesses with direct links to and benefitting from the BJP.
For instance, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, who received an NDA Lok Sabha ticket, gave a statement to facilitate the bail of his son, Raghav Reddy, the AAP alleged, adding that another approver, P. Sarath Reddy, sent Rs 60 crore to the BJP's account through electoral bonds to secure his bail.