New Delhi (Abhinav Gupta/Pratyush Ranjan): Multiple social media users claimed that the Supreme Court had granted jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal — who has been accused of money laundering in a case linked to the alleged Delhi excise scam — interim bail till 7 June. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that the Supreme Court had not passed any order on the Delhi CM’s plea on 7 May, when the social media users shared the claim.
The Supreme Court is hearing Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s bail petition, who has been in judicial custody in Tihar Jail since his arrest on 21 March. The AAP convenor has sought interim bail to enable him to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.
Claim
A Facebook user claimed on 7 May that the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal till 7 June.
Here’s the link and archive link to the post, and below is a screenshot of the same:
Investigation
Starting the investigation, the Desk searched social media platforms and found that several users had shared the same claim on 7 May, the day the Supreme Court was hearing Kejriwal’s bail petition.
Three such posts can be seen here, here and here, and their archived versions can be seen here, here and here, respectively.
In the next part of investigation, the Desk conducted a customised Google search to look for any news reports on the matter. We found a PTI report carried by ThePrint on 7 May, whose headline read: “Kejriwal fails to get immediate relief from SC in money laundering case.”
“A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, which reserved its order on grant of interim bail earlier during the day and said it will be pronounced at 2 pm, rose without delivering its verdict,” read a section of the report.
Here is the link to the report:
Meanwhile, a Hindustan Times article, reporting about the Supreme Court hearing, quoted the top court saying: “We may grant or we may not grant. But we must be open to you as neither side should be taken by surprise.”
Here is the link to the report:
Another report by PTI, carried by Business Standard on 7 May, quoted the Supreme Court saying that “it doesn’t want Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to discharge his official duties if he is released on interim bail” in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam as it would lead to a conflict of interest.
“Kejriwal failed to get any relief from the top court, with a two-judge bench rising without pronouncing an order granting him interim bail to enable him to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections,” read a portion of the report.
We further scanned news websites and channels, and came across a report by The Hindu, published on 7 May, whose headline read: “Supreme Court defers order on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s interim bail plea.”
Here is the link to the report and below is a screenshot of the same:
Subsequently, the Desk concluded that the claims made on social media on Kejriwal’s interim bail were false.
This story was originally published by PTI as part of the Shakti Collective. Apart from the headline, excerpt and introduction, this story has not been edited by ThePrint staff.