New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal, paving the way for the Delhi Chief Minister to campaign for his Aam Aadmi Party during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. While the AAP convenor had sought interim bail till July, the court granted him the relief only till June 1.
Mr Kejriwal is required to surrender to the jail authorities by June 2, a day after the final and seventh phase of voting on June 1. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
“Let us not draw any parallel. He was arrested in March. The arrest could have been before or after. Now 21 days here and there will not make any difference. On June 2, Arvind Kejriwal will surrender,” the top court said while granting the bail.
On Mr Kejriwal’s request to extend his relief beyond June 2, the court said the matter will be heard again next week.
The Chief Minister’s legal team had made a strong pitch for his release before the election to the seven seats in Delhi, scheduled to be held on May 25.
Mr Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 in the liquor policy case and has been in Tihar jail ever since he was remanded to judicial custody.
His close aide Manish Sisodia, former education minister of Delhi, and K Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, still remain in jail in the case.
Sanjay Singh, an AAP Rajya Sabha MP who was arrested in this case last October, got bail earlier this month – after a period of six months.
The liquor policy was introduced to bring an overhaul to the liquor business in Delhi, but was scrapped after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena ordered a probe into the alleged irregularities in the policy. The ED believes the policy provided a high profit margin and bribe money was allegedly used to fund the AAP’s election campaigns.
