Delhi excise policy case: Supreme Court ‘may consider’ granting bail to Kejriwal in view of polls

In amajorpolitical development, the Supreme Court of India (SC) said on Friday (May 3) thatit may consider giving bail to jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the wake of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. It also asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the central agency pursuing a case against Kejriwal, to come prepared on May 7, the nextwhenthe matter is up for hearing.

However, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta cautioned no party should assume thatthe bail will be grantedandthey“may or may not grant interim bail.”

“The Court is just being open about what is in its mind.Itdoes not want to catch the parties by surprise”,the judges noted.

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The justices passed these remarks as they were hearing a bail plea moved by Arvind Kejriwal against his arrest on March 21. The courtinearlierhearingshad said the ED would have to justify the timing of the arrest since he was detained just days after implementation ofthe Model Code of Conduct.

Justice Khanna had told ASG SV Raju, representing ED,“Liberty is very exceedingly important, youcan'tdeny that. The last question is with regard to the timing of the arrest, which they (ArvindKejriwal'slawyer) have pointed out, the timing of the arrest, soon before the general elections.”

During the May 3 hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Kejriwal, said that no“proceeds of crime”have been recovered from the Delhi CM so far and the thresholds of the custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, (PMLA) have notbeen met.

On the flip side, the ED maintains that it has material evidence to justify the arrest.

“Criminal”politicians cannot expect immunity from arrest because they want to campaign for elections, the agency had said in a court filing.

The ED is pursuing Kejriwal in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

Previously, theDelhi High Court had upheldKejriwal’sarrest, saying that the agency had no other option because the CM was not cooperating with the authorities.

(With inputs from agencies)