Arvind Kejriwal can campaign for Lok Sabha polls; gets 21-day interim bail

Arvind Kejriwal can campaign for Lok Sabha polls; gets 21-day interim bail

New Delhi: 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.

On behalf of the ED, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta vehemently opposed the grant of interim bail to Kejriwal and cited the case of Amritpal Singh – who has been arrested under the national Security Act and has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking his release to Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib constituency.

“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 statements.”

The Bench had, earlier, said it didn’t want Kejriwal to discharge his functions as the Delhi Chief Minister and sign official files, if released on interim bail. “Suppose we release you, and you are allowed to participate in elections, you will be performing official duties…it can have cascading effects… We make it clear, we don’t want you to be performing official duties if we release you,” Justice Khanna had told Singhvi.

Arrested on March 21, Kejriwal is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in the national capital. He has challenged the Delhi High Court’s April 9 verdict upholding his arrest in the case. On Tuesday, a Delhi Special Court sent him to judicial custody till May 20.

On April 2, the top court had granted bail to senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh – who was arrested by the ED on October 4, 2023 — in an excise policy scam-linked money laundering case after the ED said it had no objection to his release on bail. However, it had clarified that the concession given to Singh will not be treated as a precedent.

Two other senior AAP leaders – former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and former Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain – continue to be in jail in separate money laundering cases.

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