Delhi Court Extends Judicial Custody of CM Arvind Kejriwal Till September 2
New Delhi: In a significant development on Tuesday, a Delhi Court extended the custody of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BRS leader K Kavitha and others in a money-laundering case related to the alleged excise scam till September 2.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja extended the custody of the accused after they were produced before the court through a video-conference on the expiry of the period of their judicial custody granted earlier.
The Supreme Court had earlier granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the case. However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader continues to be lodged in the Tihar jail here as he has not furnished the bail bond in the case. The Delhi chief minister is in judicial custody in a corruption case lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the alleged scam.
SC Defers Hearing on Arvind Kejriwal’s Plea to enable settlement
The Supreme Court on Monday deferred by six weeks hearing on a plea of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging a Delhi High Court order upholding the summons issued to him in a criminal defamation case for retweeting an allegedly defamatory video circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in 2018.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar and R Mahadevan posted the matter for hearing after six weeks after senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, sought some more time to work out a settlement.
“We express regret but some more time may be given (for settlement). Currently, too many things are going on in this man’s life,” Singhvi submitted.
Advocate Raghav Awasthi, appearing for the complainant, submitted that time may be given (to Kejriwal) but it should not be unlimited and some negotiations have to take place.
Singhvi submitted that although he (Kejriwal) expresses regret for the tweet but it cannot be on his (complainant’s) terms.
The bench posted the matter for hearing after six weeks to enable the parties reach a settlement. Earlier, Kejriwal has admitted that he “committed a mistake” by retweeting the alleged defamatory video. On March 11, the top court asked Kejriwal whether he wanted to give an apology to the complainant in the matter.
Kejriwal had on February 26 told the apex court that he made a mistake by retweeting the allegedly defamatory video related to the BJP IT Cell. The counsel appearing for complainant Vikas Sankrityayan had told the top court that Kejriwal may issue an apology on social media platforms like microblogging platform ‘X’ or Instagram.
On February 26, the apex court, without issuing notice on Kejriwal’s plea challenging the high court order, had asked the complainant whether he wanted to close the matter in view of the petitioner accepting it was a mistake. The top court had asked the trial court not to take up the defamation case involving Kejriwal till further orders.
(With inputs from agencies)
