New Delhi: A Delhi court Thursday granted bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case arising out of a probe into the Delhi government’s now-withdrawn Excise Policy 2021-22.
A vacation bench of Judge Nyay Bindu of Rouse Avenue Courts passed the order granting Kejriwal bail on a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh.
The order was passed after the court heard arguments by both sides — counsel for Kejriwal, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) — over the course of Wednesday and Thursday.
Zoheb Hossain, the counsel for ED, had requested that the bail order be stayed for 48 hours to allow the agency to challenge it. However, the court refused to stay the order and ordered that the bail bond be signed Friday.
ED arrested Kejriwal on 21 March in connection with its money laundering probe linked to alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi government’s Excise Policy 2021-22.
The ED case stems from an investigation into the alleged regularities by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which registered a case with Kejriwal’s long-term aide and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia named as an accused.
A bench of the Supreme Court had on 10 May granted Kejriwal interim release till 1 June to allow him to campaign for the just concluded Lok Sabha elections.
Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Kejriwal has long accused the ED of working at the behest of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to jail leaders close to him in connection with the excise policy case.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Truth won; Kejriwal got bail!