NEW DELHI: In a significant development, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal received a major reprieve on Friday as the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in the Delhi excise case.
The Court noted that Kejriwal had already been incarcerated for over 90 days and acknowledged his status as an elected representative while granting him relief.
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, granted interim bail to Kejriwal and referred his petition challenging his arrest and remand by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise case to a larger bench.
Justice Khanna, while reading out the operative part of the verdict in the open court, said that courts can't direct Kejriwal to step down (from the post of CM) because of his arrest, and also made it clear that it's upto him to take a call.
"Mere interrogation does not allow arrest," the court noted in its Judgement and said that given the right to life is concerned, the matter is referred to larger bench for further consideration.
Keeping in view the fact that Kejriwal was also arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the same Excise policy case and was at present in judicial custody till July 12 and lodged in Tihar jail, so he should not be released today on interim bail, as directed by the SC in its verdict.
Delhi High Court, last week, had sought the response of the CBI to the bail plea of Kejriwal in the alleged excise policy scam.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna is scheduled to hear the bail plea of Kejriwal on July 17.
After the apex court pronounced the verdict granting interim bail to Kenriwal, advocate Vivek Jain, counsel for the Delhi CM, said, there are various issues of law which the Supreme Court was grappling with.
One of the issues was the necessity of arrest, we had argued before the Court that since the material was there with ED since July-August 2023, why was he arrested in March 2024. Court must have considered the argument. During the time that the matter is pending before the larger bench, the court has allowed Kejriwal to be our on interim bail.
"As far as the ED case is concerned, he is out. As far as CBI matter is concerned, his matter is going to come up for hearing on 17th July before High Court where we would be praying the High Court to release him immediately because there are no strict conditions which are there in CBI," Jain said.
It is also significant to note here that Kejriwal has moved the Delhi High Court on July 1 challenging his arrest and subsequent remand by the CBI concerning the Delhi excise policy.
During the proceedings, which spanned four days and concluded on May 17, the bench reviewed written records and asked the ED, the investigating agency, to provide evidence supporting the arrest of Kejriwal following the arrest of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
The ED, in response, informed the apex court that it had formally named Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as accused in the Delhi excise policy case, presenting alleged chats between Kejriwal and hawala operators related to proceeds of crime. These purported chats were reportedly recovered after Kejriwal declined to provide his device passwords.
"We now have direct chats between Arvind Kejriwal and hawala operators in the case," said Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED.
Following the completion of arguments, the Supreme Court granted all parties one week to submit additional documents in the case. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, countered the ED's claims, arguing that the new evidence cited by the ED had not been present during Kejriwal's initial arrest.
It is pertinent to note that the same bench, led by Justice Khanna, had earlier granted interim bail to Kejriwal until June 1, instructing him to surrender thereafter.
The ED had alleged that there was direct evidence linking Kejriwal to a demand for Rs 100 crore in kickbacks, purportedly for AAP's election expenses in Goa. Raju also asserted that Kejriwal, as a significant figure in formulating the excise policy, bore direct responsibility for the alleged wrongdoing.
Kejriwal, through his counsel, had moved the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court's dismissal of his plea against the ED's arrest and remand. The ED justified Kejriwal's arrest, claiming he was the mastermind and primary conspirator in the Delhi liquor scam.
On March 22, a trial court had remanded Kejriwal to six days of ED custody, subsequently extending it to judicial custody. The Supreme Court's interim bail granted relief to Kejriwal until June 1.
In the plea before the Supreme Court, Kejriwal had maintained his innocence in the liquor scam case, alleging that his arrest soon after the Model Code of Conduct was a deliberate attempt to tarnish his image and weaken his political party.
The Delhi High Court had earlier ruled that Kejriwal's arrest was not in violation of legal provisions and upheld the validity of his remand.
