A Delhi court on Wednesday refused to grant interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested in March this year for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy scam case.
Dismissing his plea seeking interim bail for seven days on medical grounds, Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts further remanded the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to judicial custody till June 19.
Kejriwal was today produced from Tihar jail through VC. Now, he will be produced before the vacation judge on June 19 at 2 pm.
Appearing for Kejriwal, Advocate Vivek Jain submitted that there has been certain variations in Kejriwal’s weight. However, the court said that an appropriate application should be filed on behalf on the Chief Minister clarifying the relief he was seeking for.
Representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Solicitor General Tushar Mehta raised preliminary objections and said that the interim bail plea was not maintainable.
Also appearing for ED, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju submitted that by filing the interim bail application, Kejriwal was seeking extension of the Supreme Court’s order, which was not permissible.
He said though liberty was granted to Kejriwal by the Supreme Court Registry that he can apply for regular bail, there was no liberty for extension of the interim bail.
The ASG further said that the rigours for the grant of bail under Section 45 of PMLA were mandatory and had to be followed while deciding the interim bail application.
Unless a prima facie case was made out that there was no offence, the application for interim bail cannot be granted, added the ASG.
Raju further contended that there was a suppression of facts by Kejriwal as he did not disclose in his application that he had moved the Apex Court for a similar relief.
Appearing for Kejriwal, Senior Advocate N Hariharan submitted that the medical condition of the Chief Minister was such that necessitated moving the application for interim bail.
Kejriwal had to do campaigning because that was the purpose of granting interim bail, argued Hariharan, adding that his diabetes had aggravated due to stress.
The Supreme Court Registry recently refused to list Kejriwal’s plea seeking seven-day extension of his interim bail. He was given the liberty to move the trial court for regular bail.
The regular bail plea of Kejriwal is scheduled for hearing on June 7.