Delhi Excise Policy Case: Decision on Kejriwal's interim bail on Friday; Supreme Court said this

In a money laundering case involving the purported excise policy scam, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hear arguments for and against interim bail from the Supreme Court on May 10. The bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who oversaw Kejriwal's appeal against his arrest in the case, stated that the interim order would be issued on Friday. The primary case concerning the arrest challenge will also be heard on the same day. After being taken into custody on March 21, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is presently being held in judicial custody at Tihar jail.

Justice Khanna was sitting on a separate bench along with Justice MM Sundaresh and Justice Bela M Trivedi on Wednesday. He made this comment when asked by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju about the matter of listing Kejriwal's petition. Raju had appeared before the said three-member division bench on behalf of the Center in a case related to Goods and Services Tax. He had sought clarification regarding the listing of Kejriwal's petition.

Earlier, the division bench of Justice Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta had reserved its decision regarding Kejriwal's interim bail on May 7. This bench of two judges had risen without passing any order on granting interim bail to Kejriwal to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections. The bench had reserved its decision after hearing the arguments of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for Kejriwal and the Enforcement Directorate.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the investigating agency, had strongly opposed showing any leniency towards Kejriwal due to the Lok Sabha elections and had said that granting interim bail to the AAP national convenor would be like creating a separate class for politicians. The bench has divided the hearing of the petition against Kejriwal's arrest into two parts.

Kejriwal's main petition challenges his arrest by the ED and seeks to declare it illegal, while the other aspect pertains to the grant of interim bail in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The court reserved the order on the issue of granting interim bail.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Tuesday extended Kejriwal's judicial custody till May 20 in the money laundering case. Earlier, on April 9, the High Court had legalized Kejriwal's arrest and said that after repeatedly issuing summons and Kejriwal refusing to join the investigation, the ED was left with very little option. The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Excise Policy of the Delhi Government for 2021-22.