Kejriwal has asked people not to be sad if anything happens to him in jail (PTI File)
The Chief Minister on Friday said that he will leave around 3 PM on June 2 to surrender before the jail authorities
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener, Arvind Kejriwal, is set to be back in jail on Sunday (June 2) as directed by the Supreme Court, after his plea seeking interim bail on medical grounds was put off till June 5 by a Delhi court.
Kejriwal, jailed in the Delhi excise case, was on a three-week temporary bail for campaigning during Lok Sabha election 2024, which concluded yesterday, June 1.
The Chief Minister will head back to jail at around 3 pm. Before that, he will visit Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at the Raj Ghat, the party office at the DDU Marg and a Hanuman temple.
“I came out for election campaign for 21 days on the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. I am very grateful to the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Today I will surrender by going to Tihar. I will leave home at 3 pm. First I will go to Rajghat and pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. From there I will go to Hanuman temple in Connaught Place to seek blessings of Lord Hanuman,” the Delhi CM said in a post on X.
माननीय सुप्रीम कोर्ट के आदेश पर मैं 21 दिन चुनाव प्रचार के लिए बाहर आया। माननीय सुप्रीम कोर्ट का बहुत बहुत आभार।आज तिहाड़ जाकर सरेंडर करूँगा। दोपहर 3 बजे घर से निकलूँगा। पहले राजघाट जाकर महात्मा गांधी जी को श्रद्धांजलि दूँगा। वहाँ से हनुमान जी का आशीर्वाद लेने कनॉट प्लेस स्थित…
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 2, 2024
“And from there I will go to the party office and meet all the workers and party leaders. From there I will again leave for Tihar. All of you take care of yourselves. I will take care of you all in jail. If you are happy then your Kejriwal will also be happy in jail,” he added.
Kejriwal To Remain CM
A day before his scheduled surrender, Kejriwal on Saturday held a meeting of the AAP’s Political Affairs Committee at his residence and also attended an INDIA bloc meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s home.
Prominent AAP leaders including Cabinet minister Atishi, Rajya Sabha MPs Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh, and MLA Durgesh Pathak attended the PAC meeting, with sources saying the chief minister emphasised the need to keep unity among the party leaders in his absence.
It was also emphasised that Kejriwal will remain chief minister, and his wife Sunita Kejriwal will continue to convey his messages to party leaders, volunteers and the people of Delhi, the sources said.
Delhi CM’s Interim Bail
Kejriwal was released from jail on May 10 on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court for campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls. The polls ended on June 1.
The Chief Minister on Friday said that he will leave around 3 PM on June 2 to surrender before the jail authorities.
He had earlier moved the Supreme Court seeking a seven-day extension of the interim bail granted by it in the money laundering case linked to alleged excise policy scam.
However, the SC registry on Wednesday refused an urgent listing of his plea in which he had pleaded he needed time to undergo medical tests as he was losing weight and was having high ketone level.
He then moved the special CBI-ED court seeking interim bail on medical grounds.
Hearing his plea on Saturday, the court of special judge Kaveri Baweja reserved for June 5 its order his application. The court observed that the plea was for interim bail on medical grounds and not for the extension of the interim bail granted by the SC.
The Enforcement Directorate opposed his interim bail plea, arguing he campaigned throughout the elections, but “now when he has to surrender, he suddenly claims to be ill”.
Case Against Kejriwal
The case being probed by the ED relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.
Kejriwal has asked people not to be sad if anything happens to him in jail. He also asserted he was proud of going to jail to save the country from “dictatorship”, saying he did not know how long will he remain behind bars this time.
He also appealed to the people of Delhi to pray for his elderly parents.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the chief minister should stop his “illness drama” and go back to jail if he has any respect for the law.
It is regrettable to see Kejriwal campaigning after getting bail in a healthy condition and now claiming to be seriously ill and seeking bail on medical grounds, he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
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