New Delhi: The Supreme Court will consider on Tuesday whether to enlarge Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on interim bail in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections when it hears his petition challenging his arrest in an excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Whether Kejriwal, who has been in custody through the Lok Sabha elections so far, is be able to campaign during the remaining phases will depend on the outcome of the proceedings.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will take up as the first matter the plea of the AAP leader.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 and is currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody.
On May 3, the top court had said it may consider granting him interim bail in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
It had 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 on account of the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. Polling will be held in Delhi on May 25.
“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 had told Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, who was wrapping up his arguments for the day.
Raju had said he would 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 had 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,” the top court had said.