Supreme Court grants interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal; refers legal question on PMLA to larger bench

In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case initiated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy [Arvind Kejriwal v. Directorate of Enforcement]..A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta stated that certain legal questions raised by Kejriwal in his plea challenging his arrest need to be considered by a larger bench of the top court.Hence, while referring the same to a larger bench, the Court deemed it fit to release Kejriwal on interim bail."Given that right to life is concerned and since the matter is referred to a larger bench, we direct Arvind Kejriwal to be released on interim bail," the Court ordered..Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in a case alleging that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including Manish Sisodia and others, to create loopholes in the Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22 to favour some liquor sellers. The investigation agencies alleged that the funds garnered from this exercise were used to fund the AAP's election campaign in Goa..In its order passed today, the Court said that the legal question regarding the "necessity to arrest" under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) needs to be considered by a larger bench of the top court.Section 19 provides that if the ED, on the basis of material in its possession, has reason to believe that any person has been guilty of an offence punishable under PMLA, it may arrest such person.Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, had argued that the material being cited by the ED now to defend Kejriwal's arrest was not present during his arrest and was produced later."Every material on ground of arrest predates July, August 2023. All this evidence was in Sisodia case...So what was new in Arvind Kejriwal case?...Evidence is all prior to August 2023," Singhvi had said.There was no material on "grounds of arrest" given to Kejriwal about the use of funds in the Goa elections, the senior counsel added."Entire charge is ₹100 crores...August 2023 charge this is. This is old news...March 2024 there was arrest...no money has been transferred," he submitted.Pertinently, Singhvi had argued that there should be a "necessity to arrest" as a precondition for arrest under Section 19 PMLA.Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju had argued that the ED need not supply the incriminatory material it has against an accused at the time of arrest."The reason to believe (that an accused has committed an offence) is the material before him (ED officer). In criminal law, they are not entitled to any copy before chargesheet is filed...else evidence will be tampered and witnesses will be threatened," ASG Raju said..The Court today prima facie said that the mere 'need to interrogate' a person does not mean that there is a necessity to arrest the said person.Whether "need and necessity" is about formal parameters of arrest and whether it can be read into Section 19 needs to be looked at by a larger bench, the top court said.However, despite getting bail in the ED case, Kejriwal will continue to remain in jail since he is in custody in the case initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)..Supreme Court questions ED on statement of witness who did not implicate Arvind Kejriwal earlier.The Bench had earlier granted interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1 to enable him to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.The Delhi Chief Minister had returned to jail after his bail period got over..The Delhi High Court had earlier rejected Kejriwal's plea against his arrest, prompting him to move the apex court by way of the present appeal.The Supreme Court reserved its verdict in the appeal against the same, on May 17.Meanwhile, Kejriwal had separately applied for bail and the trial court had on June 20 granted him bail and ordered his release subject to furnishing a bail bond of ₹1 lakh.However, this order was stayed by the Delhi High Court on June 25.Kejriwal initially filed an appeal before the Supreme Court against the High Court's interim stay order of June 21 but later chose to withdraw it to file a fresh appeal challenging the High Court's June 25 order..[Read judgment]