New Delhi:
The Supreme Court will not hear Arvind Kejriwal’s request seeking a 7-day extension of his interim bail in a corruption case linked to the Delhi liquor policy. The Court last month granted interim bail to Mr Kejriwal to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and had asked him to surrender on June 2, a day after the last leg of polling.
The Supreme Court registrar, while refusing the plea, said that the Delhi Chief Minister was given permission to move the trial court for regular bail, and hence this petition is “not maintainable”.
Mr Kejriwal had sought an extension on medical grounds and requested the court for an urgent hearing today.
“In view of health complications and increased risk signs, a medical examination is necessary to protect him from possible long-term harm to during his prison term,” senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is representing Mr Kejriwal, said in the petition. He had also stressed that the AAP leader will remain “visible and available in public” while out on bail.
“There is no risk of fleeing the legal process and conditions set by Supreme Court (for interim bail) have been followed…” Mr Singhvi said.
The probe agency believes the Delhi Chief Minister played a key role in drafting the now-scrapped policy and seeking bribes, or kickbacks, in return for liquor licences. The agency has claimed the AAP received kickbacks of ₹ 100 crore that was then used to fund its Goa and Punjab election campaigns.
The AAP and Mr Kejriwal have refused all charges and called the arrest and case “political vendetta”, coming as it did, weeks before the election. The arrest also triggered a political spat between the ruling BJP and the opposition INDIA bloc, which is led by the Congress and of which the AAP is a member.
