On August 23, the Supreme Court deferred the hearing of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s appeal against his detention by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scheme. The bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, scheduled the next session for September 5.
The delay came as Additional Solicitor General SV Raju requested additional time to file a detailed response to one of Kejriwal’s appeals, as reported by the legal news portal LiveLaw. Raju noted that the CBI had already submitted its response to another related petition.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a prominent lawyer representing Kejriwal, pointed out that one of the responses was submitted late on August 22, alleging it was an intentional move to prevent the document from being reviewed by the court in time. LiveLaw covered this claim.
Justice Surya Kant instructed the CBI to submit its response to another application within two days, noting that a response had already been filed for one case. The CBI accused Kejriwal of using the case to gain political traction and implicated him in a criminal plot.
The central agency informed the Supreme Court that Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had acted under Kejriwal’s guidance, as the Bar and Bench reported.
With the court granting the CBI time to file its response and Kejriwal the opportunity to reply, the hearing was moved to September 5, LiveLaw further reports.
Kejriwal has also approached the Supreme Court with a new petition, through Advocate-on-Record Vivek Jain, opposing the Delhi High Court’s August 5 decision. The High Court dismissed his plea against the CBI’s arrest but allowed him to seek bail from the trial court.
The leader of the Aam Aadmi Party was taken into custody by the CBI on June 26 while already detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scandal.
Nevertheless, on July 12, the Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail in the money laundering case and decided that a larger bench should consider his petition against the ED’s arrest. Despite this, Kejriwal remained in judicial custody due to the subsequent CBI arrest.