Arvind Kejriwal to remain in jail as Supreme Court reserves order for June 26, says ’let Delhi HC...’

The Supreme Court of India has scheduled Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea for June 26 after the High Court decided to suspend the bail he was granted by a trial court in connection with the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam.

A vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti said it would like to wait for the high court's order to be pronounced.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, sought to vacate the interim stay on the bail order. However, ASG SV Raju, appearing for the ED, opposed Kejriwal's plea and said the high court would pronounce the verdict on its stay application.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, could have walked out of Tihar jail on Friday last had the high court not granted the interim stay relief to the federal probe agency.

Kejriwal approached the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court's stay on the trial court's order granting him bail on Sunday, June 23. This came after the trial court granted bail to Kejriwal on Thursday on a personal bond of ₹1 lakh.

However, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday morning approached the Delhi High Court, which put an interim stay on the trial court's order. The federal agency claimed that they had traced out 45 crores, yet the judge says there is no direct evidence. “Direct evidence is in the form of a statement. There is corroboration also.”

“If an accused undergoes the atrocities of the system till his innocence is discovered, he would never be able to conceive that justice has actually been done to him,” the trial court said.

The apex court, which had granted bail to Kejriwal for 21 days to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls, refused to extend it further.

(With inputs from agencies)