On Tuesday (7th May), the Supreme Court of India denied interim bail to incumbent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection to the liquor policy scam case.
The matter was heard by a 2-bench Judge of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta. The apex court had initially raised apprehensions about Kejriwal resuming official duties if granted interim bail, adding that it may have a cascading effect on democracy.
The Delhi Chief Minister was arrested on 21st March this year after having skipped 9 summons from the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He is being held at the Tihar jail at the moment.
No interim bail for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as of now in the Delhi Excise Policy case. Supreme Court likely to hear the case on Thursday or next week. pic.twitter.com/gEsfbwfJ6b
— ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024
Notably, the Aam Aadmi Party has announced that the Chief Minister will continue to lead the government from prison and wouldn’t resign from office.
Kejriwal has not been granted any relief by the Delhi High Court or the Supreme Court since his arrest in March this year.
Delhi Excise Policy Scam
In November 2021, the AAP-led Delhi Government introduced the Delhi Excise Policy replacing the old excise policy claiming it would benefit Delhi. However, in July 2022, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar submitted a report to LG VK Saxena pointing out that there were alleged procedural lapses in the formulation of the Delhi excise policy 2021-22. In the same month, the policy was scrapped.
In his report, Kumar pointed out that Sisodia’s decisions taken in regards to the policy were arbitrary and unilateral leading to financial losses to the exchequer estimated at over Rs 580 crore.
Central Bureau of Investigation initiated a probe into the matter. Later, ED also initiated a separate case. Manish Sisodia and others were arrested in the matter. In March 2024, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by ED after he failed to appear in eight consecutive summons by the investigating agencies.
Kejriwal tried escaping the ED summons via court but the court rejected his plea and said he had to appear before the ED. Since then, his custody has been extended multiple times. Currently, AAP is using Kejriwal’s stint in Tihar as a political campaign hoping they would get some votes because a “sitting chief minister” has been jailed.
