The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal after he challenged his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam in Delhi. He will, however, remain behind bars as he was also arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on June 26 in connection with the corruption case linked to the scam.
“We have not examined the question of bail but we have examined parameters of Section 19 of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act). We have explained difference between Section 19 and Section 45. Section 19 is subjective opinion of officers and is subject to judicial review. Section 45 is exercise by court itself,” said Justice Sanjiv Khanna.
The SC bench, also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta, said it has sent “some issues” to a larger bench after framing three questions related to the ED’s power to arrest. “Kejriwal is elected leader and it is up to him to decide if he wants to continue as Delhi CM,” the SC said, while granting him interim bail, adding, “Kejriwal has suffered incarceration for over 90 days.”
On May 17, the SC had reserved its verdict on Kejriwal’s plea while on April 15, it had sought a response from the ED on the AAP chief’s plea challenging his arrest in the money laundering case.
Kejriwal challenged before the SC the April 9 order of the Delhi High Court that had upheld his arrest in the case, saying there was no illegality about it and that the ED was left with “little option” after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation.
The chief minister was arrested on March 21 by the ED in the money laundering case. On June 20, he was granted bail by a trial court on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh in the case.
However, the ED had moved the Delhi HC the next day and contended that the trial court’s order granting bail to Kejriwal was “perverse”, “one-sided” and “wrong-sided” and that the findings were based on irrelevant facts. The court, on June 21, imposed an interim stay on the trial court’s bail order till passing of an order on ED’s application for interim relief. On June 25, the HC had passed a detailed order staying the trial court order.
The matter relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which has now been scrapped.
AAP says ‘Satyamev Jayate’
Responding to the SC’s decision to grant bail to their leader, the AAP said the “truth has triumphed” (satyamev jayate). After the SC granted interim bail to Kejriwal, the party held a press conference, where leader Atishi said every court of law has exposed the BJP’s conspiracy against the Delhi CM.
“The SC granting interim bail to Kejriwal proves excise policy case is conspiracy by the BJP against him,” she said, while Saurabh Bharadwaj said the party is hopeful Kejriwal will also be granted bail in the excise policy case filed by CBI.
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