The Supreme Court has granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation in June over an alleged liquor excise policy case.
After spending almost six months behind bars without being given a chance to defend himself, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party has now been granted bail in the previous case brought by the Enforcement Directorate.
While rendering differing decisions about Mr. Kejriwal’s arguments, the two-judge bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Surya Kant concurred on the fundamental point—namely, that the Chief Minister ought to be freed.
In addition, Mr. Kejriwal had contested the CBI’s arrest, which his attorneys had referred to as a “insurance arrest” and which transpired just a few days after the Delhi trial court had given him bail in the ED case.
Arvind Kejriwal has been placed under several restrictions, including not visiting the Delhi Secretariat or the Chief Minister’s Office or signing official documents without Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s approval. In addition, Mr Kejriwal has to provide a ₹50,000 bail bond and a corresponding surety and refrain from speaking with witnesses or taking any remarks regarding this issue.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, Telangana politician K Kavitha, and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia all had high-profile bail hearings related to the liquor policy case, and the court noted on Friday morning that “completion of trial (is) unlikely to occur in (the) immediate future” and made the same rulings. For the same reasons, all three had been freed.
