A Delhi court on Saturday granted bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a case in which he was accused of giving false information in an affidavit filed before the 2013 Assembly elections. Metropolitan Magistrate Ashish Gupta asked the Aam Aadmi Party convenor, who was present in court, to furnish a personal bond of Rs 10,000, reported PTI. The next hearing is on April 7, 2017.
In the petition filed by the office-bearers of NGO Maulik Bharat Trust, complainants Neeraj Saxena and Anuj Agarwal had alleged that Kejriwal had violated provisions of the Representation of the People Act by giving incorrect and false details of his assets and income at the time of filing of the nomination. They added that the chief minister, who was living in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, gave a false address in Delhi so that he could qualify for contesting the election in the national Capital.
Although the petitioners had first filed their complaint in the high court, they were asked to approach a magisterial court, reported PTI. In February, the magisterial court said that Kejriwal had prima facie “wilfully concealed” and “suppressed” his details in his affidavit to the Election Commission. It added that there was enough ground for proceedings against Kejriwal under Section 125 A (penalty for filing false affidavit) of the Representation of the People Act and Section 177 (furnishing false information) of the Indian Penal Code.
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