SC Rejects Arvind Kejriwal’s Plea for 7-Day Extension of Interim Bail

The Supreme Court dismissed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s petition on Wednesday for seven-day extension of his interim bail, which was due to end on June 2, sending him back to Tihar Jail. The Supreme Court’s Registry refused to urgently schedule Kejriwal’s request for an extension of his interim bail by seven days on medical grounds in the Delhi excise policy case, stating that since the Chief Minister has the option to seek regular bail from the trial court, his plea was not permissible.

Kejriwal was granted interim bail by Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta on May 10. He was instructed to turn himself in at Tihar jail by June 2. On May 17, the bench postponed its decision on his appeal against the lawfulness of his arrest by the ED in a PMLA case related to a liquor scam.

The Supreme Court rejected Kejriwal’s request to extend his temporary bail. They said since a decision is pending on whether his arrest was legal, his plea for more bail time doesn’t relate to the main case. The Court allowed him to ask the trial court for regular bail, making this request unnecessary.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to quickly hear Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea to extend his temporary bail for seven days due to health reasons in the Delhi excise policy case. Justices JK Maheshwari and KV Viswanathan said the Chief Justice of India should decide when to review Kejriwal’s request.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the canceled Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.