Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has filed a petition with the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court’s temporary halt on a trial court’s decision to grant him bail in a money-laundering case related to an alleged excise scam.
The high court stopped the release of the chief minister after the trial court approved his bail on June 20. This prevented Kejriwal from leaving Tihar Jail on Friday as the high court granted interim relief to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the federal anti-money laundering agency.
The high court has put the implementation of the challenged order on hold until further notice and has asked for written submissions by June 24. It’s reserving the order for two to three days to review the entire case records. The court has also sent a notice to Kejriwal, asking for his response to ED’s plea challenging the trial court’s bail order, with a hearing scheduled for July 10.
The trial court’s bail order stated that Kejriwal’s guilt had not been definitively established and that the ED failed to provide direct evidence linking him to the proceeds of crime in the money-laundering case.
The excise policy was canceled in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor initiated a CBI probe into suspected irregularities and corruption in its formulation and execution. The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) allege that irregularities occurred during the policy modification and that undue favors were granted to license holders.