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The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on pleas of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking bail and challenging the Delhi High Court order upholding his arrest by the CBI in a corruption case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan sought a response from the CBI by August 23 and refused interim bail to him. When senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, pleaded for interim bail to Kejriwal on health grounds, the bench said, "We are not granting any interim bail. We issue notice." Singhvi said Kejriwal got interim bail on three occasions in the money laundering case despite the stringent rigours of Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He further stated that when he got bail under the stringent PMLA, how could he be denied regular bail in the CBI case since the Prevention of Corruption Act does not have stringent conditions similar to the money laundering law, asked Singhvi while terming Kejriwal's arrest by the CBI an "insurance arrest". The top court was hearing the plea of Kejriwal against his arrest and a separate plea seeking bail in the case. On August 5, the Delhi High Court upheld the arrest of the Chief Minister as "legal". It had dismissed Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest, saying it was only after sufficient evidence was collected and sanction was obtained in April 2024 that the CBI proceeded with further probe against him. The High Court had said there was no malice in the acts of the CBI which demonstrated how Kejriwal could influence witnesses who could muster the courage to depose only after his arrest. It was said that Kejriwal is not an ordinary citizen but a distinguished recipient of the Magsaysay Award and the convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party. "The control and the influence which he has on the witnesses is prima facie borne out from the fact that these witnesses could muster the courage to be a witness only after the arrest of the petitioner, as highlighted by the special prosecutor," it had said in its order. Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21, 2024, in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-cancelled Delhi excise policy 2021-22. On June 26, 2024, the AAP Chief was arrested by CBI while he was in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate. (ANI)
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