AMN / NEW DELHI
Supreme Court today granted interim bail to AAP leader and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal till June 01. The apex court also allowed Kejriwal to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
The Supreme Court granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till June 1 in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy. He may walk out of Tihar Jail today and has been asked to surrender to the prison authorities by June 2.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta pronounced the verdict after a brief hearing on an interim bail plea filed by Kejriwal. The plea filed by Kejriwal had challenged his arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case and the subsequent request for interim bail to enable his participation in campaigning for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The move is expected to boost AAP’s electoral prospects as Kejriwal can campaign for the party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, particularly in Delhi and Punjab, where the party is in power. Delhi and Punjab will vote on May 25 and June 1, respectively.
Kejriwal is presently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court bench asked Kejriwal to surrender on June 2.
“Let us not draw any parallel. He was arrested in March and the arrest could have been before or after. Now, after 21 days, there won’t be any difference. On June 2, Arvind Kejriwal will surrender,” the Supreme Court ruled.
June 1 is the last day of the seven-phased Lok Sabha elections. The votes will be counted on June 4.