Hearing on Kejriwal’s petition today in Supreme Court
– Photo: PTI
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The interim bail plea of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is jailed in the Delhi liquor scam, is being heard in the Supreme Court today. On May 3, a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta had said that in view of the Lok Sabha elections, Kejriwal’s interim bail can be considered so that he can participate in the election campaign.
ED opposes Kejriwal’s bail
During the hearing of the case, ED told the court that Arvind Kejriwal had stayed in the 7 star Grand Hyatt hotel during the Goa Assembly elections in the year 2022 and the hotel bill was paid by Chanpreet Singh. Chanpreet Singh is accused of allegedly receiving funds for the election campaign of Aam Aadmi Party in the Goa elections. ED’s lawyer Additional Solicitor General SV Raju opposed Kejriwal’s interim bail and said, ‘This is not a politically motivated case. We are not worried about the politics happening in this case, but our concern is about the evidence. Initially our focus was not on Arvind Kejriwal nor was the ED thinking of taking action against Kejriwal, but as the investigation progressed, Kejriwal’s role became clear.
Singhvi said – no evidence against Kejriwal
Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi is presenting arguments on behalf of Kejriwal and Additional Solicitor General SV Raju is presenting arguments on behalf of ED. Kejriwal’s lawyer Singhvi says that there is no evidence against the Chief Minister and his arrest is illegal. Failure to appear before the investigating agency cannot be a basis for arrest. SV Raju says that the decision to arrest was not only taken by the investigating officers but was also taken by a special judge.