NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court docket on Wednesday SC issued discover to the CBI on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s plea for interim bail in a corruption case stemming from the alleged excise coverage rip-off.
An apex court docket bench of justice Surya Kant and justice Ujjal Bhuyan additionally issued discover to the central probe searching for its response by August 23.
The Supreme Court docket had agreed to listen to Kejriwal’s bail plea following an pressing request by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who’s representing him.
Throughout the listening to, Kejriwal’s counsel, Singhvi termed the CM’s arrest by the CBI, in June, as an “insurance coverage arrest” because it was effected at a time when Kejriwal was on the cusp of getting bail within the extra stringent ED case beneath the PMLA.
When Singhvi pleaded for interim bail to Kejriwal on well being grounds, the SC bench refused. “We is not going to grant any interim aid,” the bench stated.
Earlier, on August 5, the Delhi excessive court docket upheld Kejriwal’s arrest, ruling it lawful. The court docket discovered no malice within the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) actions, suggesting that Kejriwal’s affect might probably deter witnesses from testifying.
The excessive court docket directed Kejriwal to hunt common bail from the trial court docket within the CBI case. It additionally acknowledged that the proof assortment loop in opposition to Kejriwal was accomplished post-arrest and that the CBI’s actions had been justified and authorized.
The court docket highlighted Kejriwal’s standing as not simply an odd citizen, however as a distinguished Magsaysay Award recipient and the convenor of the Aam Aadmi Celebration.
Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, had been granted bail by the trial court docket in a cash laundering case on June 20. Nevertheless, the excessive court docket stayed the trial court docket’s bail order. Later, on July 12, the Supreme Court docket granted Kejriwal interim bail in the identical case.
The excise coverage in query was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities and corruption linked to its formulation and implementation. Based on the CBI and ED, the coverage was modified improperly, leading to undue advantages being granted to sure license holders.
(With inputs from businesses)
