Excise policy case: SC grants interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal

The Supreme Court has granted interim bail to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) related to the Delhi liquor policy.

The court noted that Kejriwal had suffered incarceration for over 90 days and granted him interim bail.

However, he will remain in jail as he is currently being questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a separate case related to the same excise policy issue.

The verdict was delivered by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta. The court found that there was no illegality in Kejriwal’s arrest by the ED, but granted him interim bail considering the duration of his custody.

The court had earlier sought a response from the ED on Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest. The Delhi High Court had previously upheld Kejriwal’s arrest, stating that there was no illegality in it and that the ED was left with “little option” after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.

Kejriwal had challenged this High Court order in the Supreme Court.

The AAP on Friday hailed the Supreme Court for granting interim bail to Kejriwal in the excise policy scam case filed by the ED, saying “satyamev jayate”.

“Satyamev Jayate (truth alone triumphs)”, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) posted on X in Hindi along with a picture of Kejriwal holding the national flag.

While granting the interim bail, the apex court said Kejriwal has suffered incarceration for over 90 days.