'Arvind Kejriwal's Demand Not Unreasonable': Delhi HC Allows CM To Have Additional Meets With Lawyers

The Delhi High Court on Thursday allowed the jailed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to have two additional video conferences with his lawyer in jail.

The high court passed the order noting that "special situations call for special remedies."

Source : PTI

The Delhi High Court on Thursday allowed the jailed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to have two additional video conferences with his lawyer in jail. The high court passed the order noting that "special situations call for special remedies."

A bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna held that the request of Arvind Kejriwal for two additional legal meetings with his lawyers through video conferencing, in the given circumstance of huge number of cases pending against him, cannot be termed unreasonable.

In a separate development, a trial court in Delhi today extended judicial custody of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief till August 8 in a CBI case connected to alleged Delhi Liquor Policy case.

Arvind Kejriwal has already secured bail from the Supreme Court in the Enforcement Directorate case connected to the now scrapped Delhi Excise policy. However, he continues to be behind bars in the CBI case.

The high court has also reserved verdict on the legality of CBI arrest of Kejriwal and his interim bail plea.

The high court has also listed his regular bail plea for hearing on July 29.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for the AAP chief in the Delhi HC said that Kejriwal's arrest by CBI was an "afterthought insurance arrest."

Singhvi told the high court that after Kejriwal secured three release orders in the Enforcement Directorate case, they anticipated that sooner or later he would walk out. To make sure he stays behind bars the CBI arrested Kejriwal to ensure he stays behind bars.

"CBI didn't intend to and did not have any material to arrest. This is an arrest in the sake of form that if he comes out, it is an additional insurance arrest. I have three release orders in my favour." Singhvi said while referring to two interim bails by Supreme Court and one regular bail granted to Kejriwal by a trial court in the ED case.

CBI defended the arrest but did not argue on regular bail. The counsel appearing for CBI defended the arrest by saying that the central agency can arrest on basis of suspicion which is a different threshold as compared to Kejriwal's arrest under PMLA Section 19.

After concluding arguments, the court said that it will reserve the verdict on CBI arrest and interim bail. CBI is yet to make arguments on regular bail, for which the court has fixed date for July 29,