New Delhi:

In a setback for Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi High Court paused his release order in a corruption case related to the Delhi Liquor Policy until Enforcement Directorate’s petition is heard. The ED today challenged Mr Kejriwal’s bail in the case, just hours before his release from Tihar jail.

The ED mentioned its petition challenging the trial court order for an urgent hearing before a bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja, which said the case file will come to it in 10-15 minutes and after that it will hear the matter.

The high court said till then the trial court order shall not be acted upon.

Mr Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita Kejriwal, and Aam Aadmi Party leaders had planned to visit Tihar Jail at 4 pm today to greet the Delhi Chief Minister.

Yesterday, a Delhi court ordered Mr Kejriwal’s release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh but imposed certain conditions before granting him the relief, including that he would not try to hamper the investigation or influence the witnesses. The court had accepted Mr Kejriwal’s argument that the probe agency hasn’t presented enough evidence since arresting the Delhi Chief Minister on March 21.

The bail came after multiple rounds in trial courts where Arvind Kejriwal has been repeatedly denied bail. He hasn’t stepped down as Delhi Chief Minister despite calls from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for his resignation.

In May, the Supreme Court had issued interim bail to Mr Kejriwal for election campaigning. He returned to prison two days before the results were declared.

The ED arrested Mr Kejriwal over money laundering allegations while framing the Delhi liquor policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped after the Lieutenant Governor raised red flags. The ED has alleged the money Mr Kejriwal got from the liquor sellers was used to fund the party’s campaign in Goa since he is the convenor of the AAP.

New Delhi:

After the Delhi court granted bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in an alleged excise police case, Aam Aadmi Party’s Legal team said that the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) had no proof against the party’s leaders and alleged that the case was a conspiracy of Bharatiya Janata Party.

Speaking to ANI on Thursday on the party supremo getting bail, AAP Legal Cell’s state president Sanjeev Nasiar alleged that the ED was working under “someone’s pressure.”

“Truth has won. This case was false, it was a conspiracy of the BJP party. This is a huge win for the AAP party for the country and all of us. ED has no proof against any of our leaders and they are working under someone’s pressure. They wanted to finish the political career of Arvind Kejriwal but they failed in this,” Advocate Sanjeev Nasiar said.

Advocate Rishikesh Kumar, part of AAP’s legal team, said, “Arvind Kejriwal granted bail on a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh. By tomorrow afternoon, Arvind Kejriwal will come out of jail. This is a big win for AAP leaders, country and people.”

AAP National Spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar claimed that regular bail in a PMLA case is nothing less than an acquittal.

“This case is completely fake, the whole case has been written in the BJP office. We are very grateful to the court for giving a historic verdict,” Priyanka Kakkar said.

Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said that this decision will become a big example in our law system.

“All the institutions of the country whether it is ED, CBI, all have been taken over. Only the judiciary is left on which people trust. In PMLA, most people get relief only from the Supreme Court. Usually, lower courts never give relief. So it is evident that the central government has no proof in this case,” he said.

Punjab Minister and AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema thanked the judiciary for granting bail to the party supremo. “A false case was done against our convenor Arvind Kejriwal. Today the justice has won,” he said.

Meanwhile, AAP leader and Minister of Power of Punjab Harbhajan Singh ETO said that the Constitution has won after Rouse Avenue court granted bail to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

“Today the Constitution has won…A leader was arrested just ahead of the elections and today his release has made democracy win…people’s faith in the court has strengthened,” said Harbhajan Singh ETO.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said there is a “wave of happiness” in the Aam Aadmi Party.

“Arvind Kejriwal getting bail is a slap on the face of the opponents of democracy, a very big slap. This happiness will be more when he returns. Now his voice will be heard openly in the House as well,” Mr Goel said.

Vacation judge Nyay Bindu of Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Thursday granted bail to Arvind Kejriwal on furnishing bail bond of Rs 1 lakh. However, the ED opposed the bail application.

The court refused the request of ED to postpone the process of filing of bail bond for 48 hours. ED requested the postponement so that they could avail their legal remedy to challenge the order at the High Court. The court has also said that the bail order has not been stayed.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been granted bail by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court against arrest for skipping probe agency summons in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. He was asked to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15,000 and a security bond of Rs 1 lakh for the bail.

The Delhi Chief Minister violated Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code – which deals with disobeying a legal order to be at a certain place in person or by agent – when he skipped the Enforcement Directorate’s repeated summons in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

The court summoned the AAP chief after the Enforcement Directorate, which wants to question Mr Kejriwal in connection with the Delhi excise policy case, told the court that the Chief Minister skipped eight summons issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Arvind Kejriwal will not have to appear in person for the next hearing of the case on April 1.

Skipping the ED summons, Mr Kejriwal accused the Narendra Modi government of using central agencies to target Opposition leaders.

The ED’s latest summons came late in February and asked the Chief Minister to appear for questioning on March 4. However, Mr Kejriwal, who skipped the “illegal” summons, said he would appear only through video-conferencing.

But the financial probe agency insisted he appears physically and said there is no provision for questioning virtually.

Top AAP leaders – former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh – have been arrested by the ED in a money laundering case relating to Delhi’s now-scrapped excise policy.

Mr Kejriwal’s name cropped up multiple times in the ED’s charge sheets. The agency said that the accused in the case were in touch with the Chief Minister when the excise policy was being drafted.