Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested in the Delhi Excise Policy case, has not currently got interim bail from the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court can hear this matter on Thursday or next week. Earlier on Tuesday, May 7, Kejriwal’s petition against the ED’s arrest was also heard.
In the bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta, arguments were presented by Abhishek Manu Singhvi on behalf of Kejriwal and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju and SG Tushar Mehta on behalf of ED. Raising questions on the delay in investigation, the court has ordered the ED to present the case file. Along with this, the court said that suppose we grant interim bail due to elections… and you participate in office work, then it can have a wide-ranging impact.
What happened in the court?
As soon as the hearing started, SV Raju mentioned the Hawala transaction of Rs 100 crore, on which the Supreme Court questioned how a case of Rs 100 crore became worth Rs 1100 crore in two years. On this ED said that these are the benefits of the policy.
Further in the hearing, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the Supreme Court that Arvind Kejriwal had stayed in the 7 star Grand Hyatt Hotel during the 2022 Goa Assembly elections and the bill for it was paid by Chanpreet Singh. Chanpreet Singh had allegedly taken cash for AAP’s campaign.
ED told the Supreme Court that our investigation is driven by evidence and not by politics. Such evidence that we have. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, said, “In the initial phase, Arvind Kejriwal was not in focus and ED was not paying attention to him, but only as the investigation progressed, his role became clear. We have evidence that Kejriwal had demanded Rs 100 crore. If Kejriwal had responded to our nine summons Had he not ignored it and cooperated in the investigation, he would not have been arrested.”
The Supreme Court also questioned the timing of ED’s investigation. The court said that it took you two years to investigate a case. It is not right for an investigating agency to take so much time.
Supreme Court asked ED to present the Delhi Excise Policy case file before and after the arrest of former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. Besides, before the arrest of CM Arvind Kejriwal, the court also asked for the files of the alleged Delhi Excise Policy scam.
What did the court say on interim bail?
Regarding the interim bail of Arvind Kejriwal, the court said that Kejriwal is an elected leader and he needs to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
SG Tushar Mehta said, the court should first hear the entire matter, ‘He is the Chief Minister and he needs to campaign’ What example are we setting by granting bail on this ground? Are other people less important than the Chief Minister?
The Supreme Court said that suppose we grant interim bail because of elections… and you participate in office work, then it can have a wide-ranging impact.
Dr. Singhvi, if we grant any interim bail, we do not want you to perform official duties because it will create a conflict situation somewhere.
Along with this, the court said that we do not want any interference in the functioning of the government.
Justice Dutta said that if elections had not been held, we would not have given any interim relief. We would hear the case and reserve our decision.
Even before this, on May 3, the bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta had said that in view of the Lok Sabha elections, interim bail of Kejriwal can be considered, so that he can participate in the campaign. Kejriwal was arrested by ED on March 21. He is lodged in Tihar jail since April 1.
