NEW DELHI: AAP has been worried that Kejriwal’s prolonged incarceration would impact morale of workers.
With the investigating agencies failing to recover the proceeds of the alleged crime or any trace of money in the alleged scam in the Delhi excise policy despite two years of filing the FIR in the case, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal is likely to be out on bail well in time to take charge of the party’s election campaign for next year’s Assembly elections.
He has been in prison since 21 March 2024.
In recent months, three politically exposed persons allegedly involved in the scam have been granted bail by the Supreme Court on the same reasoning that the agency had not been able to recover the proceeds of the crime.
Earlier last week, on Tuesday, one of the primary accused in the case, Kalvakuntla Kavitha, who allegedly represented the “South lobby” in the alleged scam, was given bail by the Supreme Court after furnishing two bail bonds of Rs 10 lakh each. She is the daughter of former Telangana CM and chief of BRS party, K. Chandrashekhar Rao.
She was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on 15 March after which she was arrested by CBI on 11 April from Tihar prison in Delhi.
The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan, during her bail hearing, in a significant development, also questioned the fairness of the prosecution agency (CBI/ED) and criticised their selective approach in treating some accused as approvers in the case. Before deciding to give her bail, the Supreme Court on 9 August had granted bail to Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in the same case after he had spent 17 months in prison without trial. The SC had told the CBI and ED that “every day counts in matters of personal liberty”.
While granting bail to Kavitha too, the Supreme Court reiterated that while the investigation is complete and charge sheet/prosecution complaint has been filed in both the CBI and ED cases, the trials in both cases are unlikely to be completed soon, since there are about 493 witnesses to be examined and the documentary evidence runs to nearly 50,000 pages. The court reiterated its observation in the Manish Sisodia judgement that undertrial custody should not be turned into a punishment.
On 2 April, the Supreme Court had given bail to party leader and Rajya Sabha MP after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) chose to make a tactical withdrawal rather than risk an order from the top court that could affect the trial later on. Singh was arrested in the case on 4 October 2023 and was among the first political leaders who were arrested in the case. The CBI had registered an FIR in the case on 17 August 2022, while naming 15 accused in the case including Sisodia.
The ED had filed a case on 22 August.
While giving bail to Singh, the Supreme Court had stated that he had been behind bars for six months, with the investigative agencies not being able to make any headway in recovering the proceeds of the alleged crime or any trace of the money trail leading to him.
After Kejriwal was arrested in the case, the worry among the AAP cadre and its strategists was that a prolonged incarceration would not only impact the morale of the party workers but also significantly impact the party’s preparation as far as candidate selection and resource mobilization were concerned for the Delhi election.
Kejriwal, a retired Indian Revenue Service officer, who is supported by a core team of specialists from different fields, is counted by his party colleagues as the sharpest among the lot.