SC rejects Kavitha’s plea, CM withdraws petition hour later

New Delhi: It was a day-long drama in courts related to the excise policy case which started with Supreme Court rejecting BRS leader K Kavitha’s plea against her arrest and an hour later, CM Arvind Kejriwal withdrawing his petition challenging his custody. The day ended in the trial court, which sent Kejriwal to seven days in ED’s custody.
A special three-judge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, M M Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi, which has been constituted to re-examine the validity of various provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, assembled at 10.30 am to hear Kavitha's plea against her arrest.
Appearing for the BRS leader, senior advocate Kapil Sibal contended that the agency was making arrests on hearsay evidence and requested the court to intervene. The bench, however, said it had to follow a uniform procedure for all and expressed reservations on entertaining Kavitha’s petition. It said the proper procedure was to first approach the trial court, high court and then SC. “As far as bail is concerned, you have to go through the procedure by moving the trial court. We should not allow the petition just because one is a political person or can afford to come to SC directly. We have to follow a uniform procedure,” the bench said and dismissed Kavitha’s plea.
As Sibal said he was very upset over what was happening in the country and people were arrested for political reasons, the bench told him not to make political statements in court proceedings and also advised him not to get upset and emotional as a counsel.
Just when the special bench was dictating the order, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned before CJI D Y Chandrachud for an urgent listing of Kejriwal's petition and the CJI asked him to rush to the three-judge bench in court number two which would decide.
By the time Singhvi reached court number two, the special bench had risen and Justice Khanna was presiding over a division bench. Agreeing to hear Kejriwal’s plea, Justice Khanna said a special bench would reassemble after hearing all listed cases.
An hour later, Singhvi again appeared in court number two seeking permission to withdraw the case as he wanted to fight it out in the trial court where the hearing for remand was to start. The bench allowed his plea.
After some time, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for ED, told the court that Singhvi had given the wrong impression that Kejriwal was being produced right now in the trial court and that the timings of the hearings would clash. He told the bench that he had given specific instructions to ED not to proceed till the apex court had heard Kejriwal's petition. He said the CM would be produced in the trial court as the petition was withdrawn from the apex court.