SC rejects urgent hearing of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's plea for 7-day extension of interim bail

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the urgent hearing of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea seeking a 7-day extension of his interim bail for undergoing certain medical tests. Therefore, he has to go back to Tihar Jail on June 2. On May 10, a Supreme Court bench had granted Kejriwal interim bail until June 1 to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.

The apex court registry refused to accept the application, saying since Kejriwal was given liberty to move the trial court for regular bail, the plea is not maintainable.

On Tuesday, a vacation bench comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and KV Viswanathan took note of the submissions of senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, and said the decision on the listing of the interim plea can be taken by the CJI as the judgment has been reserved in the main matter.

The chief minister, in his fresh plea filed on May 26, said he will surrender before jail authorities on June 9 instead of June 2, the scheduled date for his return to prison.
The top court had on May 10 granted 21-day interim bail to the chief minister, who was arrested in a money laundering case linked to the excise policy 'scam', to enable him to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.
It had directed that Kejriwal shall surrender on June 2, a day after the last phase of the seven-phase poll gets over.

The matter relates to the alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.

(With agency inputs)