Liquor Policy: ED Opposes Arvind Kejriwal's Interim Bail, Delhi Court To Pronounce Order On June 5

A Delhi Court on Saturday reserved order on the interim bail plea moved by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case related to the alleged liquor policy scam.

Kejriwal has sought interim bail for 7 days on medical grounds.

Special judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts reserved the verdict and said that the order will be pronounced on June 05.

Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by ED on March 21. He was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court which ends today. He has to surrender tomorrow.

At the outset, SGI Tushar Mehta appearing for Enforcement Directorate (ED) raised preliminary objections and said that the interim bail plea is not maintainable. 

Referring to a press conference done by Kejriwal yesterday, SGI said that the Chief Minister made a statement that he will surrender tomorrow but did not disclose the fact that he was taking a chance with the court by filing the interim bail application. He said that Kejriwal is not voluntarily surrendering.

SGI further said that the interim bail application was not maintainable as the trial court cannot modify the order of the Supreme Court mandating Kejriwal to surrender tomorrow.

ASG SV Raju also appearing for ED submitted that by filing the interim bail application, Kejriwal is asking for extension of the Supreme Court's order which is not permissible. He said that though liberty was granted to Kejriwal by the Supreme Court registry that he can apply for regular bail, there was no liberty for extension of interim bail.

Raju further argued that Kejriwal, in order to get interim bail, has to be in custody.

”Application for interim or regular bail can't be granted unless he is in custody. He is not in custody…..If he is not in custody, the application is not maintainable. He has to surrender. There is no control of this court, there is no order of this court granting interim bail,” he said.

ASG further said that the rigours for grant of bail under Section 45 of PMLA is mandatory and has to be followed while deciding interim bail application. He said that unless a prima facie case is made out that there is no offence, the application for interim bail cannot be granted.

“Fourth submission is that section 439 is concurrent jurisdiction. He could have moved HC or this court. If he wanted an interim protection without going into rigours of section 45, he should have moved the High Court,” he said.

Raju also said that there was suppression of facts by Kejriwal as he did not disclose in his application that he had moved the Apex Court for similar relief.

”What has happened to that, not a whisper. It may be that he has right to move but he has duty to disclose all relevant facts,” he said.

Adding to the preliminary objections, SGI said that instead of getting medical tests done, Kejriwal was busy in campaigning and conducting road shows. 

“He is neither sick nor needs any special care which isn't available in jail. He has gained one kg. His argument that he has lost 7 kgs is false from the record,” he said.

Appearing for Kejriwal, Senior Advocate N Hariharan submitted that the medical condition of the Chief Minister was such that necessitated moving of the application for interim bail.

He said that Kejriwal had to do campaigning because that was the purpose of granting interim bail and that his diabetes is aggravated due to stress. 

“I had to do it because that was the purpose of granting me interim bail. Obviously when you're involved in campaigning on national level, it has its own tensions. Stress is something which aggravates diabetes. It's a known fact. Post campaign when I monitor myself, this monitoring of sugar levels, it was found there was fluctuations in sugar levels,” he said.

Hariharan also added that Kejriwal's keto levels have also increased dramatically which indicates that his kidney is not functioning as it should. He said that if Kejriwal goes to jail without getting the medical tests done, he would be subjecting himself to risk.

Opposing the submissions, Raju said that the tests required to be conducted can be done in an hour and do not require elaborate tests running into days.

“He was campaigning and going all over India. If he can go all over India, he could have done tests….Diabetes he had earlier. This is not a medical condition which commenced suddenly. It's not like suddenly I've become sick and I need medical bail. His condition was there. He says there is weight loss. It's false statement. When he entered jail, his weight was 64 kgs. And thereafter his case is that weight is 65 kgs. Where is the weight loss? It's a figment of imagination. It is only sympathy,” Raju said.

He said: “A person who is saying that my condition is serious, look at his conduct. From the day he his released, he is campaigning everywhere and not like one minute or two minutes, its for hours. At that time nothing happens to his health.”

Raju further alleged that Kejriwal wants to cheat the court by delaying the medical tests as well as the interim bail application. He said that if any tests are required to be conducted, facilities will be provided to Kejriwal in jail and if required, he will be taken to AIIMS or any other hospital.

“Why holter test? What for? You have no heart condition. You are not even complaining you have heart condition. A person who is seriously ill can't campaign for such long durations. Therefore he wasn't sick…. If he is sick we will definitely take good care of him. The jail authorities will take care. but a person who is creating reasons for getting interim bail shouldn't be protected,” Raju said.

SGI submitted that Kejriwal, who is claiming on national television that he may die or has kidney failure, did not go for a basic medical test since May 25. 

“Can a litigant take entire system on a joy ride…?When he was on entire media saying I may die, no consultation since May 25 and now he is seeking bail on the basis of May 24 report. It is a game being played by the litigant with the system. The prayers may not be granted,” SGI said.

He added: “If such a luxury plea comes from other litigant, what would we do as prosecutors? We oppose. And we are opposing. He is no more or no less than any other jail inmate. He will be treated, whatever required will be provided to him in jail but don't play with the system.”

The Supreme Court Registry recently refused to list Kejriwal's plea seeking a 7-day extension of his interim bail. He was given the liberty to move the trial court for regular bail.

Recently, ED filed a supplementary chargesheet in the money laundering case naming Kejriwal as well as the Aam Aadmi Party as accused. The court has reserved the order on cognizance on the seventh supplementary chargesheet filed by the probe agency.

On April 10, the Delhi High Court dismissed Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest, observing that ED was able to place enough material, statements of approvers and AAP's own candidate stating that Kejriwal was given money for Goa elections.

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are also accused in the case. While Sisodia continues to remain in jail, Singh was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court pursuant to a concession given by the ED.

ED has alleged that Arvind Kejriwal is the "kingpin" of Delhi excise scam and is directly involved in the use of proceeds of crime accounting to over Rs. 100 crores.

It is ED's case that the excise policy was implemented as part of a conspiracy to give wholesale business profit of 12 percent to certain private companies, although such a stipulation was not mentioned in the minutes of meetings of Group of Ministers (GoM).

The Central agency has also claimed that there was a conspiracy that was coordinated by Vijay Nair and other individuals along with South Group to give extraordinary profit margins to wholesalers.

Nair was acting on behalf of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, according to the agency.