The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a case filed against him by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the liquor policy case, Live Law reported.
Kejriwal will, however, remain in jail as he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the same case on June 25. His judicial custody in the Central Bureau of Investigation case was extended till July 25 by a Delhi court on Friday.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta referred the Aam Aadmi Party chief’s petition questioning his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate to a larger bench.
“We direct that Arvind Kejriwal be released on interim bail in connection with the case on same terms and conditions imposed by order dated May 10,” the bench said, according to Live Law.
The Supreme Court had granted Kejriwal interim bail on May 10 to allow him to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. It had then directed him not to visit the chief minister’s office or the Delhi secretariat, and not to sign any official files unless his signature is needed for them to be cleared by the lieutenant governor.
Kejriwal surrendered at Delhi’s Tihar Jail on June 2 after his interim bail period ended.
On Friday, the bench said that certain questions about the Prevention of Money Laundering Act arising in the petition have been referred to a larger bench for consideration. Kejriwal has been booked under the Act.
The court held that the reasons to believe that the arrest was valid met the parameters of Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The section empowers the Enforcement Directorate to arrest an individual based on available material and adequate reason to believe that the person is guilty.
“However, having said so, we have raised an additional ground which relates to the need and necessity of arrest. We felt that this issue whether the ground of need and necessity of arrest must be read into Section 19, especially in view of the doctrine of proportionality,” the court said. “We have referred those questions to the larger bench.”
The bail order observed that the right to life and liberty is sacrosanct and Kejriwal has “suffered incarceration for 90 days”, reported Live Law.
The order also said that the question of interim bail can be modified by the larger bench.
The court also left it for Kejriwal to decide on whether to resign as the chief minister or continue on the post. The bench said it was doubtful “whether a Court can direct an elected leader to step down”.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21. 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.
Also read: What is Arvind Kejriwal’s path to securing bail?
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