Top court to hear on August 14 Arvind Kejriwal’s pleas against arrest by CBI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on August 14 Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against the Delhi High Court order upholding his arrest by the CBI in a corruption case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam. The top court will also hear a separate plea of Kejriwal seeking bail in the case.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan will hear both the pleas of the Aam Aadmi Party convenor.

On Monday, the top court agreed to take up Kejriwal’s plea after senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for him, sought an urgent listing.

The Delhi High Court had on August 5 upheld the arrest of the chief minister as legal, and said there was no malice in the acts of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which demonstrated how the AAP supremo could influence witnesses who could muster the courage to depose only after his arrest. The high court had asked him to move the trial court for regular bail in the CBI case.

The high court had noted that the loop of evidence against the chief minister was closed after collection of relevant

evidence following his arrest by the CBI and it cannot be said that it was without any justifiable reason or illegal.

It had said Kejriwal is not an ordinary citizen but a distinguished recipient of the Magsaysay Award and the convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party. “The control and the influence which he has on the witnesses is prima facie borne out from the fact that these witnesses could muster the courage to be a witness

only after the arrest of the petitioner, as highlighted by the special prosecutor.