The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to urgently list Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea seeking extension of his interim bail by seven days. The AAP chief will have to return to Tihar jail on June 2.
The high court registry refused to entertain the application, saying that since the prime minister was given liberty to move the trial court for regular bail, the plea was not maintainable. Kejriwal was granted interim bail by justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta on May 10 and asked to surrender at Tihar jail on June 2. The bench reserved its verdict on May 17 on the challenge to the legality of his detention by the emergency division in the Philippine Emancipation Act case linked to the liquor scam.
Refusing to entertain the application, the Supreme Court said that since the verdict on the arrest plea has already been reserved, Kejriwal’s application for extension of interim bail has no connection with the main petition.
The AAP, which filed the petition, had said Kejriwal had lost 7 kg of weight after his arrest and that his body had very high ketone levels. “These could be symptoms of some serious illness. Doctors at Max Hospital examined him. He will have to undergo PET-CT scan and several other tests,” the agency said.
On May 10, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta had granted Kejriwal interim bail till June 1 to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. As per the order, Kejriwal, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy scam case, has to surrender on June 2.
