A court here on Saturday reserved its decision on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s interim bill plea which was made on medical grounds until June 5. The Enforcement Directorate opposed the plea stating that he campaigned throughout the Lok Sabha elections but “now when he has to surrender, he suddenly claims to be ill”.
As his interim bail granted by the Supreme Court in an excise policy-linked money laundering case expired on June 1, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party will have to surrender on Sunday at the Tihar jail.
The ED, which is probing the case, made the submission before Kaveri Baweja, the Special Judge who reserved the order on Kejriwal’s plea for June 5.
The case involves corruption and money laundering in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which has since been scrapped.
The application was for the grant of interim bail on medical grounds and not for the extension of the interim bail granted by the Supreme Court, the judge observed.
On May 10, the top court granted 21-day interim bail to the AAP leader to enable him to campaign during the Lok Sabha polls. It had ordered him to surrender on June 2, a day after the last phase of the seven-phase poll concludes.
After being released from the Tihar jail, Kejriwal campaigned in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, and Maharashtra.
Also read | Arvind Kejriwal to surrender on June 2, claims ‘have signs of a serious disease’
Kejriwal’s counsel urged the court to pass the order on Saturday itself, after the judge reserved the order, considering that he has to surrender on Sunday.
The judge, however, declined the request, saying the arguments and the documents submitted by the law officers of the accused as well as the prosecution were voluminous.
Appearing for the ED, Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General, during the proceedings, told the court that Kejriwal made misleading claims at a press conference on Friday that he would surrender on June 2 on his own.
Kejriwal’s statement
At a press conference here on Friday, Kejriwal said he will be surrendering on June 2. “I will leave my house around 3 pm to surrender. It is possible that this time they will torture me more, but I will not bow down,” he said.
Kejriwal had also alleged, “They tried to break me. They stopped my medicines while I was in jail. My weight was reduced by six kg after being arrested. My weight was 70 kg when I was arrested. I have not gained weight after coming out of jail.”
Doctors have advised several tests and “they feel this could be a sign of some underlying medical condition”, he had claimed.
The ED’s counsel said in court, “Kejriwal campaigned throughout his interim bail period and now he suddenly claims he is ill. Kejriwal suppressed facts and made false statements, including about his health.”
Kejriwal’s counsel told the court that he was ill and needed treatment.
The Directorate said the interim bail is not maintainable as the trial court cannot modify the order of the Supreme Court mandating Kejriwal to surrender on June 2.
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