In a major relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Supreme Court on Friday granted him interim bail till June 1 to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said Kejriwal, arrested in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2. The bench refused the request of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, that the interim bail be granted till June 5. June 1 is the last day of the seven-phase elections. The votes will be counted on June 4.
The court said reasons for granting Kejriwal interim bail will follow. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, opposed the granting of interim bail to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief on grounds of poll campaigning saying no such precedents are available. Observing that granting Kejriwal interim bail for 21 days will not make much of a difference, the bench said the ED's Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was registered in August 2022 while the chief minister was arrested on March 21 this year. "He (Kejriwal) was out there for one-and-a-half-years. He could have been arrested earlier or after but nothing such thing happened," the bench told ED.
The law officers urged the court to impose bail conditions, including that Kejriwal will not say anything regarding the excise policy case. The bench said the conditions will be similar to those imposed on AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who was given bail last month in connection with the case. According to lawyer Shadan Farasat, who appeared for Kejriwal, the court pronounced a very short oral order. "We have not yet seen the written order. So we don't know the exact contents of the written order. The court said they are releasing Kejriwal on an interim release/bail until June 2, and there are no conditions on what he can say and what he cannot say during the campaigning process and while he is out in these 20-22 days,” he said. “We are hoping that this order is uploaded today, and then we will update appropriate procedure for his release," Farasat added.
The apex court is hearing Kejriwal's plea challenging the Delhi High Court’s verdict last month upholding his arrest in the case. The bench said arguments on Kejriwal's plea against the arrest will continue next week and it will try to pronounce the judgement on the petition before the summer vacations starting May 20. The matter relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.
Following is the chronology of events in the Delhi excise policy-linked money-laundering case in which the Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till June 1 to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections:
* November 2021: Delhi government introduces new excise policy.
* July 2022: Lt Governor VK Saxena recommends Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities in formulation and implementation of policy.
* August 2022: CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) register cases in connection with alleged irregularities.
* September 2022: Delhi government scraps excise policy.
* October 30, 2023: ED sends first summons to Kejriwal in money-laundering case for appearance on November 2.
* December 2023: ED issues two more summonses to Kejriwal for questioning on December 21 and January 3.
* January 2024: Two more summonses sent to Kejriwal by ED for January 18 and February 2.
* February 3: ED files complaint against Kejriwal before magisterial court for skipping summonses.
* February 7: Magisterial court summons Kejriwal on ED complaint.
* February: ED issues summonses for appearance of Kejriwal on February 19, February 26 and March 4.
* March 7: Magisterial court issues summons to Kejriwal on ED's fresh complaint against him for evading summonses.
* March 15: Sessions court refuses to stay proceedings against Kejriwal for skipping summons.
* March 16: Magisterial court grants bail to Kejriwal in ED's complaints against him for skipping summons after he appears before it.
* March 21: Delhi HC refuses to grant protection from arrest to Kejriwal on his petition challenging summonses issued to him. ED arrests Kejriwal shortly after.
* March 23: Kejriwal moves Delhi HC challenging his arrest by ED and trial court order remanding him in agency's custody.
* April 9: HC dismisses Kejriwal's petition against arrest by ED.
* April 10: Kejriwal moves SC challenging HC order upholding his arrest by ED.
* April 15: SC seeks response from ED by April 24 on Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest.
* April 24: ED tells SC that Kejriwal led investigating officer through his conduct "to form the satisfaction" that he is guilty of money laundering.
* April 27: Kejriwal tells SC that his "illegal arrest" in case constitutes an unprecedented assault on tenets of democracy based on "free and fair elections" and "federalism".
* April 29: SC questions non-appearance of Kejriwal before ED despite repeated summonses for recording of statements, and asks if he can challenge arrest on grounds of non-recording of his version.
* May 3: SC says it may consider granting interim bail to Kejriwal in view of ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
* May 8: SC says it will pronounce order on interim bail to Kejriwal on May 10.
* May 10: SC grants interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1, says he will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.