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.
The SC registry refused to accept the application saying that since the Chief Minister was given liberty to move trial court for regular bail, the plea is not maintainable.
Kejriwal 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. The bench had on May 17 reserved verdict on his challenge to the validity of his arrest by ED in a PMLA case linked to liquor scam.
Refusing to accept application, SC said that since the verdict is already reserved on challenge to arrest, Kejriwal’s plea for extension of interim bail has no relation to main petition.
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.
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.
