Setback for Arvind Kejriwal as Supreme Court won’t hear his appeal today

The Supreme Court is set to reopen next Monday, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader’s petition is expected to be heard then. It is reported that the Supreme Court will not convene a special bench for an urgent hearing on Mr. Kejriwal’s appeal. The court’s calendar shows that it will be closed for Eid-Ul-Fitr on Thursday and for a local holiday on Friday, followed by the weekend before reopening on Monday. Mr. Kejriwal’s counsel, Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, brought up the matter before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud this morning and requested an urgent hearing.

The Chief Justice did not specify whether a hearing would be granted today, stating “We will see, we will look into it.” The high court recently dismissed Mr. Kejriwal’s challenge to his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor policy. The court emphasized that there is no separate protocol for questioning a common man and a Chief Minister by a probe agency, stating “there is no separate protocol for a probe agency to follow for questioning a common man and a Chief Minister.” AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj expressed hope for a favorable verdict in the Supreme Court, highlighting that no illegal money was found during searches by the ED and the CBI in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case.

He also raised concerns about alleged pressure on witnesses to change their statements according to what the ED wants. He characterized the situation as the “biggest political conspiracy in India’s history.”