Can't risk paralysis just to get bail, says Kejriwal on ED claims; court reserves order on plea for medical consultations

New Delhi, April 19: A Delhi court on Friday reserved, for April 22, its order on arrested CM Arvind Kejriwal's application seeking consultation with his regular doctors for 15 minutes daily, and directed the Tihar Jail to file any reply, if required, by Saturday.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Court reserved her verdict after hearing the arguments.

The Aam Aam Party (AAP) supremo on Friday moved a fresh application seeking direction to jail authorities to administer insulin to him and allow him to consult doctors through video conferencing daily for 15 minutes for his acute diabetes and fluctuating blood sugar levels.

He withdrew his plea which had sought consultations with a doctor thrice a week.

Kejriwal, on Friday, accused the ED of misrepresenting the diet chart prepared by his doctor and opposed the agency’s allegations of deliberately increasing sugar levels, saying that he cannot risk “paralysis" just to get bail.

“The ED claimed that I want to increase my blood sugar levels to get bail. Am I going to risk paralysis to get bail? Whatever food I had was as per the diet chart prepared by the doctor prior to arrest," he said.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, argued that the ED was being "petty" and "politicising" his food.

The fresh plea by Kejriwal, who is in judicial custody till April 23 in the excise policy case, also sought that his wife Sunita Kejriwal should be allowed to join the consultation with Dr Ravichandra Rao, through video conference.

"It is shocking that ED apprehends that a person would deliberately cause such an alarming hike in sugar level and risk his life – for getting medical bail. This only demonstrates a serious lack of probity, fairness and the vendetta and arbitrariness with which ED is conducting itself unabashedly against the applicant," the plea stated.

It said that under careful medical supervision, Kejriwal was able to start the 'Insulin Reversal Programme' on February 1 and the administration of insulin was discontinued. "...it is shocking and also alarming that from the date of his arrest (March 21), the applicant (Kejriwal) has not been administered insulin to control his sugar levels. has neither been able to follow the Insulin Reversal Programme," the plea states.

It alleged that while being in judicial custody, Kejriwal was seen by a doctor who is not even a diabetologist, and therefore, despite repeated requests, administration of insulin was also not provided, the plea alleged.

Kejriwal's plea stated that representatives from Tihar Jail, through ED’s counsel, presented a chart detailing the food provided for the applicant but this failed to reflect the numerous occasions when he did not consume the food offered.

Notably, there was no documentation or evidence submitted to accurately indicate what he ate.

On Thursday, the probe agency had alleged that CM Kejriwal was deliberately eating mangoes and other high-carb food in jail to raise his blood sugar levels to build a case for bail.

The ED has alleged that Kejriwal is consciously consuming items like tea with sugar, banana, sweets, poori-aloo sabzi, etc. regularly, despite being a Type 2 diabetes patient, "knowing very well that consumption of such items results in an increase in sugar levels", and that this is being done to create a medical emergency “to obtain sympathetic treatment from the court on medical grounds."

On Friday, Kejriwal’s counsel said that his client had mangoes thrice and aloo-puri only once.

"The allegation is that I have been consuming mangoes... Out of 48 meals sent from home, only three times, mangoes were there… No mangoes have been sent after April 8. The mangoes have been made to look like sugar bullets. Their sugar level is much less than brown rice or white rice,” Singhvi told the court.

"I only use Sugar-Free in my tea. How petty, political and ridiculous ED can be? Their statements are completely false and malicious. Just because you have a lot of influence in the media, you are able to publish that I am having aloo-puri even though this meal was sent once during (the Navratri) pooja," he told the court.

"Am I a gangster that I cannot even be allowed to have 15-minute VC consultations with my doctor? We have had democracy for 75 years but I am seeing such an approach for the first time," he argued.

The ED opposed Singhvi’s submission, claiming that the content of Kejriwal’s diet did not match what the doctor had prescribed, as well as the plea seeking consultation with a doctor, saying that the jail had sufficient medical facilities.