Liquor Policy: ED Opposes Arvind Kejriwal's Interim Bail, Delhi Court To Pronounce Order On June 5

A Delhi Court on Saturday reserved order on the interim bail plea moved by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case related to the alleged liquor policy scam.Kejriwal has sought interim bail for 7 days on medical grounds.Special judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts reserved the verdict and said that the order will be pronounced on June 05.Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by ED on March 21. He was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court which ends today. He has to surrender tomorrow.At the outset, SGI Tushar Mehta appearing for Enforcement Directorate (ED) raised preliminary objections and said that the interim bail plea is not maintainable. Referring to a press conference done by Kejriwal yesterday, SGI said that the Chief Minister made a statement that he will surrender tomorrow but did not disclose the fact that he was taking a chance with the court by filing the interim bail application. He said that Kejriwal is not voluntarily surrendering.SGI further said that the interim bail application was not maintainable as the trial court cannot modify the order of the Supreme Court mandating Kejriwal to surrender tomorrow.ASG SV Raju also appearing for ED submitted that by filing the interim bail application, Kejriwal is asking for extension of the Supreme Court's order which is not permissible. He said that though liberty was granted to Kejriwal by the Supreme Court registry that he can apply for regular bail, there was no liberty for extension of interim bail.Raju further argued that Kejriwal, in order to get interim bail, has to be in custody.”Application for interim or regular bail can't be granted unless he is in custody. He is not in custody…..If he is not in custody, the application is not maintainable. He has to surrender. There is no control of this court, there is no order of this court granting interim bail,” he said.ASG further said that the rigours for grant of bail under Section 45 of PMLA is mandatory and has to be followed while deciding interim bail application. He said that unless a prima facie case is made out that there is no offence, the application for interim bail cannot be granted.“Fourth submission is that section 439 is concurrent jurisdiction. He could have moved HC or this court. If he wanted an interim protection without going into rigours of section 45, he should have moved the High Court,” he said.Raju also said that there was suppression of facts by Kejriwal as he did not disclose in his application that he had moved the Apex Court for similar relief.”What has happened to that, not a whisper. It may be that he has right to move but he has duty to disclose all relevant facts,” he said.Adding to the preliminary objections, SGI said that instead of getting medical tests done, Kejriwal was busy in campaigning and conducting road shows. “He is neither sick nor needs any special care which isn't available in jail. He has gained one kg. His argument that he has lost 7 kgs is false from the record,” he said.Appearing for Kejriwal, Senior Advocate N Hariharan submitted that the medical condition of the Chief Minister was such that necessitated moving of the application for interim bail.He said that Kejriwal had to do campaigning because that was the purpose of granting interim bail and that his diabetes is aggravated due to stress. “I had to do it because that was the purpose of granting me interim bail. Obviously when you're involved in campaigning on national level, it has its own tensions. Stress is something which aggravates diabetes. It's a known fact. Post campaign when I monitor myself, this monitoring of sugar levels, it was found there was fluctuations in sugar levels,” he said.Hariharan also added that Kejriwal's keto levels have also increased dramatically which indicates that his kidney is not functioning as it should. He said that if Kejriwal goes to jail without getting the medical tests done, he would be subjecting himself to risk.Opposing the submissions, Raju said that the tests required to be conducted can be done in an hour and do not require elaborate tests running into days.“He was campaigning and going all over India. If he can go all over India, he could have done tests….Diabetes he had earlier. This is not a medical condition which commenced suddenly. It's not like suddenly I've become sick and I need medical bail. His condition was there. He says there is weight loss. It's false statement. When he entered jail, his weight was 64 kgs. And thereafter his case is that weight is 65 kgs. Where is the weight loss? It's a figment of imagination. It is only sympathy,” Raju said.He said: “A person who is saying that my condition is serious, look at his conduct. From the day he his released, he is campaigning everywhere and not like one minute or two minutes, its for hours. At that time nothing happens to his health.”Raju further alleged that Kejriwal wants to cheat the court by delaying the medical tests as well as the interim bail application....

Liquor Policy: ED Opposes Arvind Kejriwal's Interim Bail, Delhi Court To Pronounce Order On June 5

Nupur Thapliyal

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