Ahead of Haryana Assembly election, AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday walked out of Tihar jail, hours after being granted bail by the Supreme Court in the corruption case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in connection with the alleged excise policy scam. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan ordered Kejriwal’s release on a personal bail bond of Rs 10 lakh and two sureties in the like amount. Kerjiwal got bail after spending six months in Tihar Jail.
The top court restrained Kejriwal from visiting the Chief Minister’s Office and Delhi Secretariat. He shall also not sign official files unless it is required and necessaryfor obtaining clearance / approval of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor.
It also restrained him from commenting on his role in the money-laundering case against him and asked him not to interact with witnesses and / or have access to official files connected with the case. With bail conditions that do not give him complete freedom to perform his duties as Chief Minister, including that he cannot visit the Secretariat or the CM Office therein or sign any files other than those that have to be cleared by the Lieutenant Governor, officials said that the AAP Government may encounter some problems, albeit small.
At the same time, both the judges were unanimous in the decision to grant bail to Kejriwal considering the fact that the chargesheet has been filed in the case and that the trial is unlikely to be completed in the near future. The same conditions imposed by the coordinate bench while granting interim bail in the ED case will apply in this case too.
However, despite granting bail, the Court held that the arrest of Kejriwal by CBI was valid and in compliance with relevant procedural laws. While Justice Surya Kant said Kejriwal’s arrest by CBI does not suffer from any procedural infirmity, Justice Bhuyan, in a separate judgment, raised questions on the necessity and timing of the arrest.
Justice Bhuyan said the arrest raises more questions than it seeks to answer. Justice Bhuyan also expressed reservations about the bail condition that Kejriwal should not visit the CM’s office or the Secretariat. However, he chose not to pass any direction in that regard having regard to judicial discipline and reverence for a direction passed by a coordinate bench.
“The Appellant has been granted interim bail by this Court in the ED matter on 10.05.2024 and 12.07.2024, arising from the same set of facts. Additionally, several co-accused in both the CBI and ED matters have also been granted bail by the Trial Court, the High Court, and this Court in separate proceedings,” Justice Surya Kant said.
“In our considered view, although the procedure for the Appellant’s arrest meets the requisite criteria for legality and compliance, continued incarceration for an extended period pending trial would infringe upon established legal principles and the Appellant’s right to liberty, traceable to Article 21 of our Constitution. The Appellant has been granted interim bail by this Court in the ED matter on 10.05.2024 and 12.07.2024, arising from the same set of facts. Additionally, several co-accused in both the CBI and ED matters have also been granted bail by the Trial Court, the High Court, and this Court in separate proceedings,” Justice Kant observed.
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, in a separate judgment, questioned the CBI for arresting Kejriwal, saying that such action by CBI raises serious questions on the timing of the arrest and such an arrest by CBI only fractured the bail granted in the ED case. Justice Bhuyan noted that the CBI did not arrest Kejriwal for 22 months and arrested Kejriwal on the cusp of his release in the ED case.
Kejriwal is the seventh accused to get bail in the Delhi excise policy scam-related cases after AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia, BRS leader K Kavitha, AAP’s former communication in-charge Vijay Nair, Hyderabad-based businessman Arun Ramchandra Pillai and alleged “middleman” Vinod Chauhan. Kejriwal filed two separate pleas before the top court -- one challenging the legality of his arrest by CBI and a second plea seeking bail. While the latter was allowed, the former was rejected. Kejriwal, who was arrested by the ED in the excise policy case on March 21, was granted interim bail on May 10 for campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls and has been in jail since June 2 when he surrendered.
