Delhi High Court seeks CBI reply to Arvind Kejriwal bail plea; asks why CM bypassed trial Court

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the bail plea filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in relation to the Delhi excise policy case. .Justice Neena Bansal Krishna sought the response of CBI and posted the case for further hearing on July 17..The Court, however, also took note of the fact that Kejriwal has approached the High Court directly for bail instead of moving the trial court first."Petitioner has moved this court directly without going to the trial court. This contention will be considered at the later stage. CBI to file reply in a week," the High Court said..The CBI arrested Kejriwal on June 26, while he was in judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).Kejriwal was granted bail by the trial court in the ED case on June 20 though the same was later stayed by the Delhi High Court on June 25.Following this, he was arrested by the CBI on June 26 and remanded to CBI custody till June 29.On June 29, he was sent to judicial custody till July 12 after the CBI did not seek extension of custody.He approached the High Court directly for bail in the CBI case on July 3. .The Delhi Chief Minister's plea challenging his arrest by the CBI and the trial court order remanding him to agency's custody is also pending before the High Court..During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said that the High Court has the jurisdiction to hear the matter.Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari, who also appeared for Kejriwal, said that Section 41A of Code of Criminal Procedure (on giving notice to accused before arresting him without a warrant) has been violated. "Our principle argument is that Section 41A has been violated. The trial court has said that 41 A has not been violated that's why we are saying going to the trial court will be a futile exercise," Chaudhari said.Singhvi added that Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on twin condition for grant of bail will not apply in CBI case. "The Supreme Court has settled the law. There is no Section 45 PMLA involved here. My lord may hear it today itself. It is a bail plea. What is the point of all these judgements if my friend (CBI lawyer) comes and says I should go to trial court," Singhvi said.Advocate DP Singh, who appeared for CBI, questioned the decision of the Chief Minister to directly approach High Court for bail. "The first court for bail should have been the trial court. For proprietary sake... this will become a norm in all cases," he said.The High Court said that these must be a strong ground to approach it directly for bail notwithstanding its concurrent jurisdiction to hear bail petitions."In how many matters has the Supreme Court said go to trial court on propriety? Law is clear, we have the concurrent jurisdiction. The Supreme Court has said don't clog the higher courts when the remedy is available to you. There must be some reason why you come to High Court directly," the judge orally remarked before proceeding to issue notice to CBI..The Delhi Chief Minister's plea challenging his arrest by the CBI and the trial court order remanding him to agency's custody is also pending before the High Court.