New Delhi:

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will today challenge the Delhi High Court’s stay on the bail granted to Arvind Kejriwal in the Supreme Court. This decision comes after the trial court had previously granted bail to Mr Kejriwal on June 20 in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, only for the High Court to stay the bail order on Tuesday.

The trial court, in its June 20 decision, had ordered Mr Kejriwal’s release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh. However, a vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain of the Delhi High Court stayed the trial court’s order, criticising it for not adequately considering the material presented by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and for not allowing the sufficient opportunity for the agency to argue its case.

High Court’s Criticism

Justice Jain remarked that the trial court had failed to properly evaluate the evidence against Mr Kejriwal presented by the ED. “We disagree with the Delhi High Court order. We will challenge it in the Supreme Court,” AAP said in a statement. 

Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, when asked about the High Court’s decision at a press conference, expressed skepticism and indicated that AAP’s legal team would strategise the next steps. “A High Court bench stayed the order of the lower court without even the order getting uploaded. I did not have any hope from the High Court. I think the High Court bench was prejudiced. We will approach the higher court,” Mr Bharadwaj said.

The Delhi excise policy, which was scrapped in 2022, has been under scrutiny following allegations of irregularities and corruption in its formulation and execution. Both the CBI and ED allege that undue favours were extended to license holders and that there were significant irregularities in the policy’s implementation.

AAP’s Response

Mr Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI in Tihar Jail on Monday and Tuesday, each session lasting over an hour.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused the BJP of conspiring with CBI officers to allegedly frame Mr Kejriwal in a “fake case.” In a video message, Mr Singh alleged that the BJP-led Centre was attempting to manipulate the legal process to target Mr Kejriwal.

“We have learnt from reliable sources that the BJP-led Centre has hatched a conspiracy with CBI officers at a time when there is a huge possibility of Kejriwal getting bail from the Supreme Court. They have planned to frame him in a fake case by the CBI and get him arrested. The entire country is watching the atrocities of the BJP. How will one get justice in such circumstances? People will stand up against this,” Mr Singh said.

New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation twice this week in the alleged liquor policy case. Mr Kejriwal was questioned on Monday by the central probe agency and then again on Tuesday in the Tihar jail for more than an hour.

The Aam Aadmi Party chief is currently in jail in connection with an Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering case arising from the alleged liquor policy case. The Delhi liquor policy 2021-22 was scrapped after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution.

The questioning of Mr Kejriwal comes just a day ahead of a Supreme Court hearing of the AAP petition against the Delhi High Court order staying the bail granted to the Chief Minister by a trial court.

The trial court had granted bail to Mr Kejriwal on June 20 and ordered his release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh. The high court stayed the trial court order on Tuesday, saying the Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court – “didn’t apply its mind” when granting bail and pointed to what it said were lapses in judgement.

The AAP, meanwhile, alleged a conspiracy involving CBI officers to frame Mr Kejriwal in a “fake case” and get him arrested. The CBI has rejected the accusations.

The Enforcement Directorate or ED had arrested Mr Kejriwal on March 21, shortly after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arrest on his petition challenging summonses issued to him.

On May 10, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Mr Kejriwal till June 1 to campaign in Lok Sabha elections, saying he will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2. He has been in jail ever since.

The ED and the CBI have alleged the Delhi government’s liquor policy for 2021-22 allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who paid bribes for licenses. The AAP has strongly denied the charge.

New Delhi:

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia approached the high court on Thursday seeking bail in the corruption and money-laundering cases lodged by the CBI and the ED respectively in relation to the alleged excise policy scam. The bail pleas are scheduled for hearing before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on Friday.

Sisodia approached the high court after a trial court refused to grant him bail in the matter on April 30.

The bail pleas were mentioned by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader’s counsel before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P S Arora for an urgent hearing, which agreed to list the same for Friday.

“Let the judge go through the file. So let it come tomorrow,” the bench said.

Advocates Rajat Bhardwaj and Mohammad Irshad, representing Sisodia, told the bench that the petitioner is an MLA and requested that both the pleas seeking bail be listed for an urgent hearing.

The trial court had dismissed Sisodia’s bail pleas in the corruption and money-laundering cases lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) respectively in connection with alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.

The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, the probe agencies have alleged.

The special judge had, in the April 30 order, denied the relief, saying the stage is not right to grant bail to Sisodia.

The AAP leader was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023 for his alleged role in the “scam”. The ED arrested the former deputy chief minister in a money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023.

Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 2023.

The high court had dismissed Sisodia’s bail pleas in the CBI and ED cases on May 30 and July 3 last year respectively.

On October 30, 2023, the Supreme Court also refused to interfere with the high court’s verdict, saying the allegation by the probe agencies that “windfall gains” of Rs 338 crore were made by a few wholesale liquor distributors was “tentatively supported” by material and evidence.

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

New Delhi:

The Rouse Avenue Court of Delhi on Monday reserved the order on the bail plea moved by Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha in connection with CBI case related to the Excise Policy case.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja on Monday fixed May 2 for pronouncement of order in the matter.

The plea further stated that the ruling party at the Centre is using investigative agencies to publicly connect the petitioner to the Delhi Excise Policy so that further coercive actions can be taken against her. The investigating agencies are well aware that there is no substance in the allegation of the petitioner’s involvement in the alleged scam. The intention behind the purported investigation against the petitioner is not to ascertain her involvement in the alleged scam, since it is painfully clear that none exists.

The political masterminds are well aware that if the petitioner can be connected to the alleged scam, it will bring her, and by logical implication, her father, the erstwhile Chief Minister of Telangana, into disrepute. The political mileage gained from such actions can be used in the general elections scheduled for 2024. This is the sole and singular motive of the purported investigation. This is political propaganda at its shameful lowest, even by the not-so-high standards in Indian politics, stated bail plea.

BRS leader K Kavitha was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last week. She was arrested by CBI while in judicial custody in the ED case.

Advocate Nitesh Rana, along with Deepak Nagar and Mohit Rao, appeared for the K Kavitha in the matter.

Earlier, the CBI remand application stated that “Kavitha Kalvakuntla was required to be arrested in the instant case to conduct her custodial interrogation for confronting her with the evidence and witnesses to unearth the larger conspiracy hatched among the accused, suspect persons regarding the formulation and implementation of the Excise Policy, as well as to establish the money trail of ill-gotten money generated and to establish the role of other accused/suspect persons, including public servants, as well as to unearth the facts which are in her exclusive knowledge.”

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested K Kavitha, MLC, Telangana Legislative Council, on March 15, in the case of the alleged liquor policy scam.

The CBI inquiry was recommended based on the findings of the Delhi Chief Secretary’s report filed in July showing prima facie violations of the GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009, and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officials said.

The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval. The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, the probe agencies said.

As per the allegations, the Excise Department had decided to refund the earnest money deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules.

Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19, the probe agency said adding that there was an alleged loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer.

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