Delhi’s chief minister and convener of the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal will come back to Tihar Jail, as the apex court has refused to grant any further relief on Sunday.
Earlier, supreme court had granted Kejriwal an interim bail to campaign for Lok sabha elections on May 10, till June 2.
After the grant of interim bail, Delhi CM Arvind kejriwal approached supreme court for further extension of bail.
However, the top court dismissed the plea, stating, he has already been granted the liberty to seek regular bail from the trial court. Thus, the plea is not maintainable.
Moreover, Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court had reserved its verdict on Kejriwal’s interim bail plea, which the petitioner sought on medical grounds.
Later, the court scheduled June 5 for the pronouncement of its verdict on the 7-day bail, despite Kejriwal’s counsel requesting the order on the same day.
Representing Kejriwal, Senior Advocate N. Hariharan argued that the interim bail plea was essential for his party’s campaign, which is now recognized as a national party.
“I am out for 20 days and had I not done it, you would’ve said see he didn’t campaign and fell ill. It was a lot of stress due to the campaigning and you know that stress is a aggrevator of diabetes. What was alarming was that keto levels rose in the urine. The aspect of concern is the high level of sugar and the keto numbers.” further said the plea.
But enforcement directorate lawyer, solicitor general Tushar Mehta and additional solicitor general SV Raju, contended, that kejriwal has willingly suppressed the facts about everything including his health conditions.
In their preliminary arguments, they further stated that they have objections to the filing of interim bail.
“This court cannot modify the Supreme Court order. He’s on interim bail because the SC granted it, what he is asking here is an extension of the Supreme Court order.” said ED’s lawyer.
Regarding the dismissal of the interim bail, they further contended that it should be rejected as it is based on suppressed facts.
Although, the apex court has granted the petitioner the liberty to file for regular bail, it did not grant an extension of interim bail.
“The Supreme Court had granted Liberty to him that he can file regular bail but the liberty to seek an extension of interim bail was not granted to him. He has said that these tests require 7 days, but the nature of the test has been suppressed.” contended ED’s counsel.
While questioning the maintainability aspect of the interim bail plea, they highlighted, instead of undergoing his medical test, he was busy traveling.
Recently, Arvind Kejriwal, through his legal team, submitted two separate bail applications to the relevant court. His plea for regular bail is scheduled for a hearing on June 7, 2024.
Previously, on Friday, Arvind Kejriwal posted an emotional message, expressing his pride in going to jail to protect the country from dictatorship.
Posting a video message, he said,
“Tomorrow the 21 days are getting over, the day after tomorrow I have to surrender. I don’t know how long they will keep me in jail this time. But my spirits are high. I am going to jail to save the country from dictatorship. I am proud of this. They tried to break me many times, tried to make me bow down but I didn’t.”
On March 21, Kejriwal was apprehended by the ED as part of a money laundering investigation linked to suspected irregularities in the 2021-22 Delhi excise policy, which has now been cancelled.