The Supreme Court has granted bail to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan granted bail on the condition that Kejriwal cannot comment on the merits of the excise policy case while out on bail.
The bench had reserved its verdict on September 5 after hearing Kejriwal’s petitions challenging his arrest and seeking bail in the CBI case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. Both the judges delivered separate judgments on Friday.
According to LiveLaw, Justice Kant held that the arrest of Kejriwal was legal and did not suffer from any procedural irregularity. But the judges were unanimous in the decision to grant bail to Kejriwal considering the fact that the chargesheet has been filed in the case and that the trial is unlikely to be completed in the near future.
While Justice Kant upheld the arrest, Justice Bhuyan held that the arrest by the CBI was only to frustrate the bail granted to Kejriwal in the money laundering case, according to LiveLaw.
The Supreme Court had in July granted interim bail to Kejriwal in a money laundering case that was filed by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the excise policy case. Kejriwal remained in Tihar jail as he was also arrested by the CBI over corruption charges linked to alleged excise policy scam on June 25.
The court had earlier granted interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1 to enable him to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
Kejriwal was first arrested by the ED in the liquor policy case on March 21. The arrest had come weeks before the general elections, and after at least nine ED summons. The central agency had reached the Delhi CM’s residence hours after the Delhi High Court had denied any interim protection to Kejriwal in the liquor policy case. In the run up to the arrest, several AAP leaders had alleged a “big conspiracy” against the Delhi CM.
In the subsequent court proceedings, the ED had termed Kejriwal the “kingpin” of the alleged liquor scam.
Newslaundry has extensively reported on Kejriwal's arrest and the alleged liquor scam. Read here.
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