Arvind Kejriwal Moves Supreme Court Seeking Extension Of Interim Bail In Delhi Liquor Policy Case

In the latest development, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has moved the Supreme Court seeking extension of interim bail granted to him in the Delhi Liquor Policy case on May 10.

The Aam Aadmi Party chief, who was released from judicial custody as an interim measure for the purposes of campaigning during Lok Sabha elections, said that he has to undergo diagnostic tests/investigations, including PET-CT Scan. He seeks an extension of the relief for a period of 7 days.

It may be recalled that Kejriwal was arrested by the ED from his residence on March 21, after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him interim relief earlier in the day. He remained in custody since then till May 10, when the top Court granted him the benefit of interim release till June 1 subject to certain conditions.

While directing interim release of Kejriwal, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had observed that it was dealing with the case of an elected Chief Minister who was not a threat to society. It was further noted that the ED investigation remained pending for about 1.5 years (before Kejriwal's ultimate arrest shortly after elections were notified) and therefore a liberal view was justified, also as general elections were ongoing, which are a once-in-5-years affair.

Background

To recap, Kejriwal was arrested in the case on March 21, following denial of interim protection by the Delhi High Court. He moved the Supreme Court on the night of his arrest itself, however, this petition was withdrawn the next day as it was clashing with ED's application for remand before the Trial Court. Senior Advocate Dr AM Singhvi, on behalf of Kejriwal, had mentioned to a Justice Sanjiv Khanna-led Bench at the time that Kejriwal would fight the remand and come back.

Following the arrest, although the remand was resisted, the AAP chief remained in custody. At first, on March 22, the Trial Court remanded him to 6 days' ED custody. Later, the same was extended by 4 days. On April 1, he was remanded to judicial custody till April 15.

When the matter was listed on April 15, Kejriwal's judicial custody was extended till April 23. On the next hearing, the custody came to be extended till May 7.

ED alleges that Kejriwal was the kingpin and key conspirator of the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy scam and there are reasons to believe on the basis of material in its possession that he is guilty of the offence of money laundering. Relying on Section 70 PMLA, the agency avers that Kejriwal (being national convener of AAP) is vicariously liable for his party utilizing Rs 45 crores (part of proceeds of crime) for Goa elections.

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are also accused in the case. While Singh was granted bail by the Supreme Court pursuant to a concession given by the ED, the Delhi High Court recently denied Sisodia's plea for regular bail in the money laundering and corruption cases, saying that he misused power and breached public trust.