A Delhi court on Friday told the Enforcement Directorate that it cannot object to the requests made by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on his medical checkup in the city’s Tihar Jail, Bar and Bench reported.
Judge Mukesh Kumar made the remarks in response to an application from the Aam Aadmi Party chief to allow his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, to join his medical checkup via videoconferencing. The court asked the jail superintendent of the prison facility to respond to the chief minister’s application.
Arvind Kejriwal’s plea also requested that he be allowed to provide inputs on his health to the medical board constituted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences after a court order in April.
At the hearing on Friday, the Enforcement Directorate, represented by advocate Zoheb Hossain, told the court that more time was required to respond to the Delhi chief minister’s application.
In response, the court said: “Accused [Arvind Kejriwal] is in judicial custody, not ED [Enforcement Directorate’s custody]. If he wants any relief, you have no role in this.”
Hossain requested the court to call for a report from the jail authorities about providing access via videoconferencing to Sunita Kejriwal.
“We will seek a reply from the jail but you have no role in this,” the court said, according to Bar and Bench.
The court will next hear the matter on Saturday.
Arvind Kejriwal surrendered at the Tihar jail on June 2 after his 21-day interim bail period ended. The Supreme Court had granted the Opposition leader bail on May 10 in the Delhi liquor policy case to allow him to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. He was arrested by the central law enforcement agency on March 21.
In April, the Enforcement Directorate had alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party chief, a diabetic, was deliberately eating sweets and mangoes to raise his blood sugar, which he could then cite to seek bail. The Aam Aadmi Party, on the other hand, had alleged a conspiracy to kill Kejriwal in jail by denying him insulin and other medicines for his diabetes.
Before surrendering, the Aam Aadmi Party chief on May 28 had filed two separate petitions in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court. While one pleaded for a regular bail in the money-laundering case, the second petition sought interim bail for seven days on medical grounds.
On June 5, the Delhi court rejected his plea seeking interim bail for seven days. The petition for regular bail will be heard on June 19.
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating allegations of money laundering in the 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.
Also read: Why the courts have denied bail to Aam Aadmi Party leaders, despite weak evidence
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