Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been granted interim bail in the Delhi liquor policy case by the Supreme Court. This pertains to only the money laundering case against him pursued by the Enforcement Directorate. For now, he will remain in Tihar jail till he gets bail in the case against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The single-judge bench, comprising Justice Dipankar Datta May 17 had reserved its verdict on Kejriwal's plea. The SC on April 15 sought a response from the ED on Kejriwal’s plea, challenging his arrest in the money laundering case.
Reacting to the Supreme Court's verdict, Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said: "First Judge Nyay Bindu granted bail [to Kejriwal] in the ED case. Now, the country's top court has granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal. The court has taught a big lesson to the BJP government at the Centre. If the Centre continues to act arbitrarily, its vanity will be broken even more."
AAP MP Sanjay Singh said it was a victory for truth. "Modiji, how long will you keep the truth imprisoned by filing false cases? The whole country is watching your dictatorship. Be it ED Court or Supreme Court, everyone believes that Arvind Kejriwal has been falsely implicated by ED. The decision of the Supreme Court is the victory of truth," he posted on X.
Kejriwal's Arrest And Bail Pleas
The Aam Aadmi Party convenor moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Delhi High Court's order on April 9 upholding his arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case. The HC had said that Kejriwal's arrest was according to the law. It also upheld the ED's claim that he had refused to join the investigation and the central agency had no option left other than to arrest him as he skipped multiple summonses.
Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in the money laundering case stemming from the Delhi excise policy case. He was granted bail on June 20 by a trial court on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh. However, the ED immediately moved a plea against the bail in the Delhi High Court. It termed the decision "perverse, one-sided and wrong".
On June 21, the HC ordered an interim stay on the trial court's bail order till an order was passed on the ED's application for interim relief. Four days later, the high court stayed the bail verdict in a detailed order.
Later on June 26, Kejriwal was placed under arrest by the CBI on June 26 in the corruption case related to the alleged excise policy scam. The case pertains to the alleged corruption and money laundering while formulating and implementing the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy by the AAP government in 2021-22.
What The Court Said
A two-judge bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta pronounced the verdict. While pronouncing the order, the court said: "Arvind Kejriwal has suffered incarceration for more than 90 days. He is an elected leader and it is up to him whether he wants to continue in the role or not," reported legal news website Bar & Bench."
"Given that the right to life is concerned and since the matter is referred to a larger bench, we direct Arvind Kejriwal to be released on interim bail," the Bench was quoted as saying by Bar & Bench.