No bail, for now: SC; let HC pass order

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to grant Delhi Chief Ministe Arvind Kejriwal immediate relief in his battle to get bail. The Delhi High Court has issued an interim stay on his bail after a lower court issued the same, NDTV reported.

In the top court, Kejriwal argued that the high court made a mistake in staying his bail without reading the entire lower court order and its rationale. However, the vacation bench of the apex court of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti said that it would wait till the lower court's order comes on record. Also, it wanted the high court to have a chance to re-examine its stay order.

"It is not proper to interfere when the High Court has reserved its judgement," NDTV quoted the court.

The court then fixed June 26 for hearing Kejriwal's plea against the Delhi High Court order putting an interim stay on his bail in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam. Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, sought vacating of the interim stay on the bail order. ASG SV Raju, appearing for the ED, opposed Kejriwal's plea and said the high court was about to pronounce the verdict on its stay application. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, could have walked out of Tihar jail on Friday last had the high court not granted the interim stay relief to the federal anti-money laundering agency.