In a major setback to Arvind Kejriwal, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the Delhi Chief Minister's plea for the extension of his interim bail plea by seven days on medical grounds. During the hearing, the top court stated that since a verdict on the challenge to the arrest is already reserved, Kejriwal's plea for an extension of interim bail is unrelated to the main petition. As the top court allowed him to move to trial court for regular bail, this application is not maintainable. Notably, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief had got interim bail from Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta on May 10 and was asked to surrender to Tihar jail on June 2.
SC had refused urgent hearing of Kejriwal's plea
Earlier on Tuesday, the apex court had refused to allow an urgent hearing of the Delhi Chief Minister's plea for the extension of his interim bail plea by seven days. Refusing to list Kejriwal's interim plea on its own, a vacation bench comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and KV Viswanathan asked senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the chief minister, why it was not mentioned last week when Justice Dipankar Datta, one of the judges of the main bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna which had granted the interim bail to him, was sitting on the vacation bench. "Why did you not mention it when Justice Datta was sitting on the vacation bench last week? Let the Honourable CJI take a decision as it raises the issue of propriety. We will send it to the CJI," the bench had said.
Kejriwal filed plea on health ground
Earlier on Monday, the Delhi Chief Minister sought an extension of his interim bail by seven days from the Supreme Court to undergo a host of medical tests, including a PET-CT scan in view of his "sudden and unexplained weight loss, coupled with high ketone levels. In his bail plea, Kejriwal said he will surrender back to jail on June 9, instead of June 2, the scheduled date for his return to prison.
Kejriwal is out on interim bail
After being released from jail on May 10, Kejriwal has been involved in campaigning for the I.N.D.I.A bloc for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The bail is applicable till June 1 and the Delhi CM has to surrender to authorities on June 2. He has been allowed to participate in the poll campaigning but can not attend his office as Chief Minister. Imposing certain conditions while granting Kejriwal interim bail, the apex court said he would not interact with any of the witnesses or have access to any official files connected with the case.
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