Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Hearing for Arvind Kejriwal's Bail Extension Plea in Liquor Policy Case

The Supreme Court vacation bench on Tuesday, May 28, refused to allow an urgent hearing of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal 's plea for the extension of his interim bail by seven days on medical grounds.

The vacation bench, comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and KV Viswanathan, said it's appropriate if the Chief Justice of India takes a call on the listing of the plea.

Arvind Kejriwal , who was arrested in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy and lodged in Tihar Jail, is supposed to surrender on June 2.

A senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi , appearing for the Delhi chief minister, submitted that Kejriwal is required to undergo some medical tests, including a PET-CT scan, and for this purpose, the interim bail, which is ending on June 1, be extended.

The bench asked Singhvi why the plea of Arvind Kejriwal was not mentioned for urgent listing 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 the chief minister, was sitting on the vacation bench.

The Supreme Court had granted Arvind Kejriwal interim bail for 21 days on May 10 to enable him to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections 2024. However, it barred him from visiting his office or the Delhi secretariat and signing official files unless absolutely necessary to obtain the lieutenant governor's approval.

If an extension is not granted, Kejriwal will have to surrender himself to Tihar Jail on June 2.