The Supreme Court on Friday, May 3 2024, indicated that it may decide to grant interim bail to jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, even though it clarified that it has not decided the matter as yet. The court asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to take instructions on whether interim bail can be granted and what conditions can be imposed on him.

The oral observations by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta came at the fag end of the hearing on the plea filed by Kejriwal that challenged his arrest by the ED.

"This case may take time. But if the case takes time, we may consider the question of interim bail because of the elections," the bench said.

Appearing for Mr Kejriwal, Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi today said there is no evidence against the Delhi Chief Minister and his arrest is legal. Mr Kejriwal, he said, had responded to nine summonses from the ED. He added that failure to appear cannot be a basis for arrest.

"All evidence on which I am arrested is pre-2023 end. Every material is as in July 2023. Same evidence relied on in Manish Sisodia's case. Money trail chart was the same," Mr Singhvi said.

When the court asked if any action had been taken against AAP, Mr Singhvi replied in the negative. Referring to Section 70 of the PMLA, which deals with offences by companies, he said, "Anything or everything done by a political party cannot be attributed to its convenor or president. Merely mentioning a company cannot lead to arrest of the MD unless you show something, same thing with AAP." To this, Justice Khanna replied, "Any person in overall charge of the company, then you are vicariously liable with the company and then you have to show that it was done without your knowledge." Mr Singhvi responded, "They say he is the brain behind AAP... he is involved in demand of kickbacks. There is no direct evidence."

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