On Tuesday the Supreme Court will decide on whether to grant interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been arrested since March 21 and is presently in Tihar jail under judicial custody, in connection with a money laundering case associated to the scrapped Delhi excise policy.
A bench including Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will start proceedings by considering the plea of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader. On May 3 the Supreme Court hinted at the probability of granting interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal in light of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The court expressed its willingness to hear arguments from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) about interim relief to the AAP chief before elections in Delhi that are scheduled for May 25.
During the previous hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the ED, expressed opposition to Kejriwal’s bail, citing statements made by AAP leader Sanjay Singh following his release on bail in a related case.
The Supreme Court had said, ‘We are not commenting on it either way. We are just saying we will hear on interim bail and not saying we will grant interim bail. We may or may not grant interim bail’.
The bench also raised questions about Kejriwal’s official duties, particularly in relation to signing official documents, given his current legal predicament.
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