The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to hear the case of Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy scam. Kejriwal had applied to avoid the hearing before the scheduled date of December 20.
Dismissing his plea, Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri said- the hearing will be held on the scheduled date. We have many more cases to hear.
After the court's refusal for an early hearing, Kejriwal's counsel demanded that a copy of the ED application filed against him be provided to him in advance.
The court has accepted their demand. Justice Ohri has directed that necessary documents be shared between the two parties before the hearing.
On September 13, former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal came out on bail from Tihar Jail.
The High Court also refused to stay the hearing Before this, on November 21, the High Court had also refused to stay the ongoing hearing in the trial court against Arvind Kejriwal.
Kejriwal's contention was that the lower court erred in taking cognizance of the offense without any prior sanction. He was the Chief Minister of Delhi when Kejriwal was prosecuted. In such cases, prior approval of the Governor is required under Section 197 (1) of CrPC.
The court sought a response from the ED on Kejriwal's plea. Now this case will also be heard on December 20.
Kejriwal is currently out on bail. Two investigating agencies (ED and CBI) have registered a case against him. Kejriwal was granted bail by the Supreme Court on September 13 in the CBI case. At the same time, he got bail from the Supreme Court on July 12 in the ED case.
The ED arrested him on March 21 in the liquor policy case. Later on June 26, the CBI took him into custody from the jail.
Liquor Policy Case- Kejriwal spent 156 days in jail Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21. After 10 days of interrogation, he was sent to Tihar Jail on April 1. On 10 May, he was released for 21 days to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. He was released after 51 days in jail. On June 2, Kejriwal surrendered in Tihar Jail.
At the time of Kejriwal's release on September 13, he had spent a total of 177 days in jail. Out of which he remained on interim bail for 21 days. That means Kejriwal has spent a total of 156 days in jail so far.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).