Overruling the Enforcement Directorate’s vociferous objections, the Supreme Court on Friday granted three-week interim bail till June 1 to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to Delhi excise policy scam to enable him to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
“We are passing an interim order…Giving him interim bail till 1st June,” said a Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta – which had on May 7 clearly hinted at releasing Kejriwal for a limited period in view of the Lok Sabha elections.
As it reassembled at 2 pm after lunch, the Bench barely took a few minutes to pronounce the order on interim bail to the Delhi Chief Minister. It ordered the AAP national convenor to surrender on June 2, a day after the seventh and final phase of polling. It said a detailed order will be released later.
Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, urged the Bench to let the Delhi Chief Minister be out for a few more days as counting of votes would take place on June 4. However, the Bench didn’t accede to his demand.
“I could not find any precedent on a person being released for campaigning in elections,” Mehta said.
“Let’s not put it into a simple, straightjacket like that. We are passing the order,” Justice Khanna said and went on to pronounce the order granting interim bail to Kejriwal for three weeks.
As Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said, “He (Kejriwal) may not say anything on the case. Justice Khanna said, “Like in Sanjay Singh’s matter, you’re entitled to counter him with equally strong statement.
Tribune India