Arvind Kejriwal withdraws plea from Supreme Court against HC’s interim stay on bail order

Delhi CM Kejriwal withdraws plea challenging Delhi HC order in money laundering case, arrested by CBI, seeks fresh challenge.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Supreme Court on June 26 said “events are overtaking” him rapidly with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) reviving a 2022 interrogation to arrest him in Tihar Jail the same evening as the State High Court pronounced a judgment staying the bail granted to him by a trial court in money laundering charges linked to the excise policy case.

Also read | CBI arrests Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in excise scam case

“On a 2022 interrogation and notice by the CBI, I [Kejriwal] have been arrested… re-arrested yesterday [June 25] while still under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act [PMLA]… A judgment [of the Delhi High Court] has come… The judgment has all kinds of issues,” senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, for Mr. Kejriwal, conveyed to a Vacation Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and S.V. Bhatti.

The Bench allowed Mr. Kejriwal’s request to withdraw from the Supreme Court for the time being with liberty to launch a fresh challenge against the State High Court judgment of June 25 to stay his bail in the excise policy case, followed by the unexpected move of the CBI to arrest him hours later.

The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP’s) national convenor has been in custody, except for a short interval the Supreme Court allowed him interim bail to campaign for votes in the Lok Sabha elections, since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21. The trial court had allowed him statutory bail under Section 45(1) of the PMLA on June 20. However, the Delhi High Court had paused the operation of the bail order the very next day while reserving its verdict on a stay application filed by the ED.

Arvind Kejriwal hearing highlights

The Supreme Court, on June 24, adjourned Mr. Kejriwal’s challenge of the interim suspension of the implementation of the statutory bail and decided to wait for the High Court judgment. On June 25, the High Court pronounced a final decision to stay the trial court bail.