On Friday, June 21, the Delhi High Court temporarily suspended the order that granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case linked to the liquor policy issue.
The court put a hold on the bail order’s implementation until a final decision is made on the stay application submitted by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED).
“Arguments have been heard. I am reserving this order for two to three days. Order reserved. Until the decision is pronounced, the implementation of the challenged order will remain stayed,” the Court ruled.
Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain, presiding over the vacation bench, issued this order while serving notice on the ED’s petition, which contested the trial court’s decision from the previous day that granted bail to Kejriwal.
The matter was addressed today following an urgent request made by the ED’s counsel earlier this morning before the Court.
Sunita Kejriwal, the wife of Mr Kejriwal, and leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) planned to visit Tihar Jail at 4 pm today to meet the Delhi Chief Minister.
Delhi court granted bail without reading documents: ED
The Enforcement Directorate moved the High Court against the bail order today, and now it has been revealed that the lower court called ED’s arrest of Kejriwal ‘mala fide’ and granted bail without reading documents submitted by both parties.
In the judgement, the judge said that it is not possible to go through thousands of pages of documents at this juncture. But the court still decided that ED’s action was mala fide and granted bail to Arvind Kejriwal. The court also refused to hear ED’s arguments against the bail and asked ED’s counsel to present his arguments very briefly. The bail order was issued hurriedly at around 8 pm yesterday, and the order was not uploaded due to lack of time.
Arguing against the bail order, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said that the trial court didn’t hear ED’s arguments, and didn’t look at documents given by ED saying it is voluminous. “Court says bulky documents have been filed. There can’t be any more perverse order than this,” the ASG said. He said that the court must go through the submitted documents.
“Without going through documents filed by both sides, without giving us the opportunity the matter is decided. The court must pass an order by law. Without going to documents how can you say it’s relevant or not relevant?” the ED counsel said.
Yesterday, a Delhi court granted Mr Kejriwal’s release on a personal bond of ₹1 lakh with certain conditions, including that he would not interfere with the investigation or influence witnesses. The court accepted Mr Kejriwal’s argument that the investigation agency had not provided sufficient evidence since his arrest on March 21.
This bail came after multiple attempts in trial courts where Mr Kejriwal was repeatedly denied bail. He has remained in his position as Delhi Chief Minister despite calls for his resignation from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
In May, the Supreme Court granted Mr Kejriwal interim bail for election campaigning, but he returned to prison two days before the results were announced.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Mr Kejriwal on money laundering charges related to the 2021-22 Delhi liquor policy, which was later revoked after objections from the Lieutenant Governor. The ED alleges that funds received from liquor vendors were used to finance the AAP’s campaign in Goa, where Mr Kejriwal serves as the party’s convenor.
