The Supreme Court on Friday said that it may consider hearing arguments on interim bail of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal due to the Lok Sabha polls and asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Kejriwal’s counsel to come prepared on 7 May.
The apex court said as arguments on Kejriwal’s plea against arrest by the Enforcement Directorate and his subsequent remand in the Delhi excise policy case may take time, it may hear arguments on his interim bail.
Appearing for Kejriwal, Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi said there is no evidence against the Delhi Chief Minister and his arrest is legal. Kejriwal, he said, had responded to nine summonses from the ED. He added that failure to appear cannot be a basis for arrest.
“All evidence on which I am arrested is pre-2023 end. Every material is as in July 2023. Same evidence relied on in Manish Sisodia’s case. Money trail chart was the same,” NDTV report quoted Singhvi as saying.
When the court asked if any action had been taken against AAP, Singhvi replied in the negative.
Appearing for ED, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said the decision to arrest Kejriwal was not just taken by the investigating officer, but also fortified by a special judge.
“Before he was arrested, they moved a division bench of Delhi High Court, saying that he should not be arrested, but the court perused the documents and said no interference. So there was application of judicial mind in three stages,” NDTV quoted Raju as saying.
The court eventually noted that this case and examination of its various aspects may take time.
“But if the case takes time, we may consider interim bail due to elections,” the bench said.
During the previous hearing on 30 April, the top court had said that the ED would need to justify the timing of Kejriwal’s arrest on 21 March, which took place merely a week after the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections kicked in.
Justice Khanna had told ASG SV Raju, representing ED, “Liberty is very exceedingly important, you can’t deny that. The last question is with regard to the timing of the arrest, which they (Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyer) have pointed out, the timing of the arrest, soon before the general elections.”
Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court upheld Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, saying the agency had no other option as he was not joining the probe.
Before the court’s observation, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Arvind Kejriwal, said MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy was forced to make a statement against the Delhi Chief Minister in lieu of bail to his son Raghav.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea challenging the arrest of Kejriwal in the case, saying it is not maintainable.
The high court said Kejriwal admittedly has the means and wherewithal to approach the court and file appropriate proceedings.
The high court said the direction sought in the petition to the Centre to provide information of the arrest of a political party leader or a candidate to the Election Commission of India (ECI) when the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in force belies the petitioner’s legal understanding with respect to the rule of law.
This court said that it’s of the view that the present writ petition which effectively challenges the arrest of the national convenor of AAP is not maintainable as the said person is in judicial custody in pursuance to judicial orders, which are not a subject matter of the present petition.
“The petition conspicuously fails to name the person though the identity is apparent due to the references made to his political standing/position,” a bench of acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora said.
While the order was passed on 1 May, the detailed verdict was made available on Friday.
The high court said there was no merit in the petition and it was frivolous and appeared to have been filed with the intent of garnering publicity.
The bench dismissed the petition, saying petitioner Amarjeet Gupta, a law student, has no locus standi to seek the reliefs in favour of the arrested person.
With inputs from agencies
Link to article –
