Delhi Excise Policy case: CM Arvind Kejriwal sent to judicial custody till June 5 after surrender
A Delhi court on Sunday remanded Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till June 5, hours after his surrender on expiry of his interim bail in the Delhi Liquor Policy scam case.
The national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today surrendered before the Tihar Jail authorities on expiry of his 21-day interim bail.
After his surrender, Kejriwal was produced before Magistrate Sanjeev Aggarwal through a virtual conference.
On June 1, the Enforcement Directorate had opposed Kejriwal’s application seeking interim bail for a week on medical grounds.
Appearing before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Courts, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta contended that Kejriwal made misleading claims in his press conference on Friday where he said that he would surrender on June 2 on his own.
The SG said that several facts about Kejriwal were being suppressed, including those about his “health conditions”.
The ED Counsel contended that the court cannot ‘modify’ the Supreme Court order.
Mehta said Kejriwal was on interim bail because the Supreme Court granted it. What he was asking here was an extension of the Supreme Court order. He added that the interim bail plea should be dismissed as it was full of suppression of facts.
The national agency also noted that the apex court allowed him the liberty of applying for regular bail, not to seek an extension of interim bail.
The ED’s counsel noted that Kejriwal said that the medical tests required seven days, however, the nature of the test has been suppressed.
The ED reply to Kejriwal’s seeking one more week of interim bail noted that the reason for the suppression of the above material facts appeared to be that from May 24, 2024, when the application for the extension of interim bail was drafted on behalf of the applicant for filing in the Supreme Court and the affidavit supporting the application was sworn by the applicant/deponent, till its disposal on May 28, the applicant, despite raising medical grounds seeking interim bail, continued to travel widely and conducted multiple road shows and rallies across various cities, instead of getting the medical tests done for which he was seeking interim bail now.
Moreover, his conduct revealed that he was neither sick nor needed such specialised medical care which was not available in jail, added SG Mehta.
On May 10, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail till June 1 to Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2020-21.
The order was passed by the Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta. The Apex Court ordered Arvind Kejriwal not to visit the office of the Chief Minister.
It further directed the Chief Minister not to sign any official files. It also barred the AAP leader from commenting about the case and interacting with the witnesses.
Earlier on May 9, the legal team of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal raised strong objection to the affidavit filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposing his interim bail in the Supreme Court.
from India Legal https://ift.tt/9mdkfiF