The Supreme Court reserved orders on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's bail plea in the CBI's case on Thursday. The Court, after daylong hearing, will hear the matter next on September 10.
The Central Bureau of Investigation questioned the bail plea and said notice was not served to the Aam Aadmi Party leader under section 41A since he was already under judicial custody in an Enforcement Directorate case. Kejriwal's lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi had argued the Delhi CM was not served a notice before his arrest.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan heard the AAP leader’s pleas seeking bail and challenging CBI's case on Thursday. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, argued that the CBI’s was an ‘insurance arrest’.
Singhvi argued Kejriwal was the most captive interrogatee. “The only point of arrest was to have insurance if Kejriwal wins in the Enforcement Directorate’s case. The imminence of Kerjiwal committing further offence was minus, not zero. He was found fit for release by Supreme Court two times,” argued Singhvi, Live Law reported.
Singhvi said no notice was served to Kejriwal by the CBI before the arrest and an ex-parte arrest order was passed by the trial court. He added Kejriwal is a constitutional functionary and was not a flight risk. Singhvi added every possible co-accused in the case has been released on bail, including former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K. Kavitha.
The ED arrested Arvind Kejriwal on March 21 in connection with alleged scam in the scrapped Delhi liquor policy. The CBI arrested him from Tihar prison on June 26 in a prevention of corruption case registered in connection with the alleged scam.
The matter relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which has now been scrapped.
The apex court granted bail to Kejriwal in ED’s case on July 12, observing the AAP leader has been in prison for 90 days. However, he had to remain in prison as he was serving remand in CBI’s case. The Supreme Court had also granted interim bail to Kejriwal during the Lok Sabha polls for campaigning.
