May consider interim bail for Arvind Kejriwal due to elections, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday said it may consider interim bail for Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal because of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, and posted the matter for further hearing on May 7.

The Enforcement Directorate was expected to respond today to the queries raised by the top court, including the question regarding the timing of Kejriwal’s arrest before the elections.

Stating that “life and liberty are exceedingly important”, the Supreme Court had on Tuesday asked the probe agency to respond to Kejriwal’s question regarding the timing of his arrest in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

Kejriwal was arrested on March 21, days after the 2024 Lok Sabha election schedule was announced.

Hearing the submissions of Senior Advocate A M Singhvi, who represented Kejriwal, the court had questioned the time gap between the initiation of proceedings and arrest. Another “point which bothers us also is the time gap… between the initiation of proceedings and the repeated complaints being filed after some time,” Justice Khanna said.

The case pertains to alleged kickbacks received by the AAP and its leaders in implementation of the now-scrapped 2021-22 Delhi excise policy.