Delhi court rejects Kejriwal's interim bail plea

New Delhi: A Delhi Court on Wednesday denied interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case related to the alleged liquor policy scam. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts dismissed Kejriwal's plea seeking interim bail on medical grounds for seven days.
His regular bail plea is scheduled for hearing on June 7. Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21. He was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court until June 1 and surrendered the following day.

The court mentioned that specific directions have been issued for certain diagnostic tests for Kejriwal. The Delhi CM, who was produced in court from Tihar Jail via video conferencing, has been remanded to judicial custody until June 19. He will now be produced before the vacation judge on June 19 at 2 pm.
Advocate Vivek Jain, appearing for Kejriwal, said that there have been certain variations in Kejriwal's weight. However, the court said that an appropriate application be filed on behalf of the Chief Minister, clarifying the relief he is seeking.
SGI Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED), had raised preliminary objections and said that the interim bail plea was not maintainable. ASG SV Raju, also appearing for ED, had submitted that by filing the interim bail application, Kejriwal is asking for an 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 so that he could apply for regular bail, there was no liberty to extend interim bail.

ASG further said that the rigours for the bail grant under Section 45 of PMLA are mandatory and must be followed when deciding on an 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.

Raju had also said that Kejriwal suppressed facts as he did not disclose in his application that he had moved the Apex Court for similar relief. Appearing for Kejriwal, Senior Advocate N Hariharan had submitted that the Chief Minister's medical condition was such that it necessitated moving the application for interim bail.
He had 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. The Supreme Court Registry recently refused to list Kejriwal's plea seeking a seven-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 the accused. The court has reserved the order on cognizance of 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 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.
(With Live Law Inputs)