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New Delhi, May 10, 2024: In a major development, Supreme Court today granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till June 1 to campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Kejriwal has to surrender and go back to prison on June 2, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said.
On March 21 National Convenor of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal was arrested in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam relating to his Delhi Government.
The current parliamentary election are being held in seven phases with June 1 is the last of the polls and the votes will be counted on June 4.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate, vehemently opposed the interim bail to Kejriwal on grounds of poll campaigning saying no such precedents are available.
Observing that granting him interim bail for 21 days will not make much of a difference, the bench said the ED’s Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was registered in August 2022 while Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 this year. He could have been arrested earlier or after but no such thing happened, quoting the bench media reports said.
Putting conditions of bail, the court said Kejriwal has to surrender on June 2. He shall furnish bail bonds in the sum of Rs.50,000/- with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the Jail Superintendent.
He shall not visit the Office of the Chief Minister and the Delhi Secretariat.
He shall be bound by the statement made on his behalf that he shall not sign official files unless it is required and necessary for obtaining clearance/ approval of the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.
He will not make any comment with regard to his role in the present case.
And he will not interact with any of the witnesses and/or have access to any official files connected with the case.
