SC denies Kejriwal immediate interim bail in excise case, seeks CBI response
A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan maintained its stance, opting to address the matter only after receiving the CBI’s detailed response
The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied immediate interim bail to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been under arrest in connection with the Delhi excise policy case, even as it sought a response from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before making any further decisions.
“We are not granting any interim bail at this stage,” remarked a bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan in response to the arguments of senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Kejriwal. Singhvi emphasised Kejriwal’s health concerns, pressing for interim bail. But the bench maintained its stance, opting to address the matter only after receiving the CBI’s detailed response. The next hearing has been scheduled for August 23.
During the brief hearing, Singhvi argued that Kejriwal was granted interim bail on three occasions in the money laundering case despite the stringent conditions imposed on bail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He referred to the Supreme Court’s interim bail orders passed on May 10 and July 12, as well as the regular bail granted by the trial court on June 20.
Singhvi highlighted that the Delhi high court stayed the June 20 trial court order on an “oral mention,” questioning how Kejriwal could be denied regular bail in the CBI case when he had been granted bail under the more stringent provisions of the PMLA. The senior lawyer characterised Kejriwal’s arrest by the CBI as an “insurance arrest,” made on June 26 just as Kejriwal was on the verge of release in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case.
When Singhvi reiterated the request for interim bail due to Kejriwal’s health concerns, Justice Kant stated: “We are not granting any interim bail.” Following Singhvi’s appeal for the earliest possible hearing date, the bench scheduled the next hearing for August 23.
In his plea filed two days after the Supreme Court granted bail to former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the related CBI and ED cases, Kejriwal challenged his arrest and subsequent remand orders while also pressing for bail.
Kejriwal, in the petitions filed on Monday (August 12), assailed the Delhi high court’s August 5 judgment, which ruled that his arrest was neither illegal nor without justifiable grounds because CBI presented “evidently enough evidence” to warrant his detention and remand.
He relied on the Sisodia verdict, in which the court held that the former deputy chief minister’s long incarceration of 17 months and his continued detention in a case, where there was no hope of trial ending anytime soon, impinged on his fundamental right to liberty and speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution. Kejriwal’s petition argued that the grounds on which the court found it appropriate to release Sisodia on bail should equally apply to him.
Kejriwal’s petition highlighted the Supreme Court’s observations in the Sisodia case that prolonged incarceration without trial could amount to a violation of fundamental rights, particularly when the investigation is largely complete and the accused has deep roots in society, reducing the risk of absconding. Kejriwal argued that he meets these criteria, much like Sisodia, and should be granted bail on similar grounds.
The petition was significant in light of the assembly elections in Delhi early next year. As the chief minister and his party’s most prominent leader, Kejriwal’s presence is crucial for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s campaign strategy. With Kejriwal at the helm, the AAP has consistently positioned itself as a champion of Delhi’s governance, focussing on issues such as education, health care, and affordable water and power. His continued detention, on the other hand, could severely impact the party’s ability to rally its base, manage the election narrative, and counter opposition attacks effectively.
Kejriwal has been in custody since March 21 following his arrest by ED, apart from a 21-day interim bail in May granted by the top court for Lok Sabha election campaigning. On July 12, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the ED case, acknowledging that he had spent over 90 days in incarceration. Still, he continued to remain in custody due to his arrest by CBI on June 26 in the same matter.
The case against Kejriwal stems from allegations of irregularities in Delhi’s now-scrapped excise policy of 2021-22, which CBI began probing following a recommendation by Delhi’s lieutenant governor in July 2022. Kejriwal was the third AAP leader to be arrested in this connection. Sisodia was incarcerated since February 2023 before he was released on August 9, and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh was granted bail by the top court in April, after six months of custody.
In his petition before the Supreme Court, Kejriwal disputed the findings recorded in the high court judgment while asserting that his arrest and remand orders issued by a Delhi court on June 26 and June 29 respectively were illegal and passed in grave contravention of previous Supreme Court judgments which required the investigating agency to issue a prior notice and furnish concrete reasons to justify an arrest.
A mere non-cooperation cannot form a statutory ground to arrest a person, said Kejriwal’s petition, adding that CBI did not point towards any new evidence or material in the arrest memo or the remand note to justify his arrest. He claimed that his arrest by CBI was an attempt to scuttle and prevent his release from custody in the money laundering case registered by ED.