Delhi court grants bail to Kejriwal in excise policy case

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday, three months after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy, which is also under investigation by the CBI.

Special Judge Niyay Bindu denied the ED’s request to delay the bail order by 48 hours. Kejriwal, who had been in custody at Tihar Jail since his arrest on March 21, had been out on interim bail last month to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and surrendered again on June 2.

His interim bail plea was rejected on June 5, but his regular bail plea was approved on Thursday, Indian Express reported.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the ED, opposed the bail, citing direct evidence that funds used for AAP’s Goa Assembly election campaign were transferred through hawala channels.

Raju alleged that Chanpreet Singh, an accused in the case, received Rs 450 million for the AAP campaign and had close communications with Kejriwal through co-accused Vinod Chauhan.

Raju also claimed Kejriwal was not cooperating by withholding his phone passwords, arguing that it would reveal incriminating information. He contended that Kejriwal, as the head of AAP, should be held accountable under Section 70 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Senior Advocate Vikram Chaudhri, representing Kejriwal, refuted these allegations, stating that the ED’s claims were speculative and lacked evidence. Chaudhri emphasized there was no proof that AAP received Rs 45 crore.

The ED has previously alleged that Kejriwal was directly involved in creating the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, which was supposedly designed to benefit the ‘South Group’ — a coalition of individuals from southern India.

The ED claimed this group gained undue favors and access to wholesale and retail businesses, paying Rs100 crore to AAP leaders in return. The agency also alleged that bribes from the ‘South Group’ financed AAP’s Goa Assembly campaign in 2021-2022.

Web Desk