The Delhi High Court on Friday issued an interim stay on a trial court’s order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money-laundering case linked to the liquor policy case, Bar and Bench reported.
A single-judge bench of the High Court said that it is reserving the matter for a detailed order that will be pronounced in two to three days, according to Bar and Bench. The trial court’s bail order will remain stayed in the meantime.
Vacation Judge Nyay Bindu of the Rouse Avenue Courts granted bail to Kejriwal on Thursday. Earlier on Friday, however, the High Court halted the bail order as it allowed an urgent hearing of a petition by the Enforcement Directorate.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate, told the High Court that he was not given adequate opportunity to oppose the bail plea in the trial court.
Raju also said that the trial court passed the judgement even though the bail order was not provided at the time, reported Live Law. “The order has not yet been uploaded,” he said. “Conditions not known.”
After the order was pronounced by the Delhi court on Thursday, the Enforcement Directorate had requested the court to give it 48 hours to sign the bail bond and challenge the bail before the appellate court. Judge Bindu, however, refused to stay the order.
While granting the bail, the trial court said in its order that the Enforcement Directorate had acted with bias against Kejriwal. The central agency then moved the High Court on Friday to challenge the bail.
At the hearing on Friday, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, opposed the Enforcement Directorate’s plea before the High Court.
Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhari, also appearing for the Aam Aadmi Party chief, told the court that the central agency should gracefully accept the court order, reported Live Law.
“This is astonishing,” Chaudhari said. “They can’t accept something with grace. This is the problem with ED.”
Kejriwal was arrested by the central law enforcement agency on March 21. The Enforcement Directorate is investigating allegations of money laundering in the liquor policy case based on a first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The two central agencies have alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government modified Delhi’s now-scrapped liquor policy by increasing the commission for wholesalers from 5% to 12%. This allegedly facilitated the receipt of bribes from wholesalers who had a substantial market share and turnover.
The Enforcement Directorate has also claimed that members of a “South Group” had paid at least Rs 100 crore in kickbacks to leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party through Nair.
It has alleged that Kejriwal was the “kingpin” and the “key conspirator” in the case and the material evidence showed that he was guilty of money laundering.
In a supplementary chargesheet filed in May, the Enforcement Directorate also named the Aam Aadmi Party as an accused in the case.
Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party have denied the allegations.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief has been in Tihar jail since he surrendered on June 2 after his 21-day interim bail period ended. The Supreme Court had granted the Opposition leader bail on May 10 in the liquor policy case to allow him to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
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