The Supreme Court on Monday advised Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to wait for the Delhi High Court’s decision on his bail plea in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy. A bench comprising Justices Manoj Misra and SV Bhatti presided over the proceedings, where senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Vikram Chaudhary represented Kejriwal, and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Raju appeared for the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
At this, Justice Misra responded, “If the High Court has committed a mistake, should we repeat it?”
Singhvi further stated that the stay on the bail order was unprecedented and declared that Kejriwal was not a flight risk. The bench indicated that the final order could be expected imminently and advised all parties to wait patiently. At this, Singhvi raised concerns about the loss of time after obtaining bail.
“Why can’t I be free in the interim? I have a judgment in my favour,” Singhvi argued.
“If we pass an order now, we will be prejudging the issue. It is not a subordinate court, it is a High Court,” Justice Misra said.
The bench further questioned the urgency, asking why waiting for a day would be problematic.
Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary referred to the Supreme Court’s May 10 order granting Kejriwal interim bail and noted the court’s observations that Kejriwal, as the Chief Minister of Delhi, had no criminal antecedents, posed no threat to the investigation, and had only been arrested in March 2024, despite the investigation being ongoing since August 2022.
Chaudhary also highlighted the May 17 order where the Supreme Court reserved judgment on Kejriwal’s challenge to his arrest, allowing him the liberty to apply for bail.
