Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday moved a court in the national capital seeking bail in the liquor policy case, Bar and Bench reported.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief was released from Tihar jail on May 10 on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court. He had been arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in the liquor policy case.
The top court directed him to surrender on June 2, a day after voting for the Lok Sabha election ends.
On Thursday, Kejriwal filed two separate petitions in the Delhi court, Bar and Bench reported. While one seeks regular bail in the money-laundering case, the second petition seeks interim bail for seven days on medical grounds.
Special judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Court sought the Enforcement Directorate’s response to both bail petitions, Live Law reported. The case will be heard on June 1.
This is the first time that the Aam Aadmi Party chief has applied for bail in the case, Bar and Bench reported. He had earlier challenged his arrest and remand by the central law enforcement agency. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court.
This came a day after the Supreme Court registry refused to urgently list Kejriwal’s request that his interim bail be extended for seven days.
The chief minister, who suffers from diabetes, had requested that his interim bail be extended so that he could undergo diagnostic tests, including a positron emission tomography-computed tomography, or PET-CT scan.
The registry said that his petition was not maintainable as he had been allowed to move the trial court seeking regular bail.
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating allegations of money laundering in the Delhi liquor policy case based on a first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The two central agencies have alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government modified Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor policy by increasing the commission for wholesalers from 5% to 12%. This allegedly facilitated the receipt of bribes from wholesalers who had a substantial market share and turnover.
The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that Kejriwal was the “kingpin” and the “key conspirator” in the case and the material evidence showed that he was guilty of money laundering.
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