New Delhi, Sep 05, 2024, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Sep 5: The Supreme Court reserved its order on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's separate pleas seeking bail and challenging his arrest by the CBI in the alleged excise policy scam.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan heard arguments put forward by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, who represented the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who appeared for the beleaguered Aam Aadmi Party leader.

"Thank you for the assistance. Judgment reserved," the bench said after the lawyers concluded their arguments.

Kejriwal has filed two separate petitions challenging the denial of bail and against his arrest by the CBI in the the corruption case filed by the central agency.

The AAP chief was arrested by the CBI on June 26. The Delhi High Court had on August 5 upheld the arrest of the chief minister as legal, and said there was no malice in the acts done by the CBI which was able to demonstrate how the AAP supremo could influence witnesses who could muster the courage to depose only after his arrest.

The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution. According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to licence holders.

Earlier, questioning the maintainability of Kejriwal's pleas seeking bail and challenging his arrest, the CBI on Thursday told the apex court that he should have first approached the trial court for bail in the corruption case linked to the alleged excise policy scam.

Additional Solicitor General Raju submitted before the bench that even in the money laundering case, Kejriwal, who had challenged his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), was sent back by the apex court to the trial court.

Kejriwal told the top court that the CBI did not arrest him for nearly two years in the alleged excise policy scam and an "insurance arrest" was made on June 26 after he got bail in the "harsher" money laundering case filed by the ED.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the chief minister, told the bench that no notice was served to Kejriwal by the CBI before his arrest and an ex-parte arrest order was passed by the trial court.

Seeking bail for him, Singhvi pointed out that the top court, while granting him interim bail in the money laundering case, had said the chief minister was not a threat to society.

Kejriwal has filed two separate petitions challenging the denial of bail by the Delhi High Court and against his arrest by the CBI.