In a huge setback for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi High Court (HC) allowed probe agency Enforcement Directorate’s plea, which sought to stay the trial court’s order granted bail to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief in the alleged liquor scam. The AAP has said it will move the Supreme Court.
The stay by Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain on the operation of the order passed by special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge Niyay Bindu means Kejriwal will have to stay in Tihar jail for now. The Supreme Court will hear his plea on Wednesday.
The AAP, meanwhile, said, “Don’t agree with HC verdict. We will move the SC against this verdict."
A day after a trial court granted bail to Kejriwal on June 20, the HC had paused his release. In its bail order, the trial court had held that prima facie, the Delhi CM’s guilt was yet to be established and that the ED had failed to furnish direct evidence linking him to the proceeds of crime in the money laundering case.
Kejriwal then moved the Supreme Court against the Delhi HC’s interim order. In the SC, on Monday, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, sought vacating the interim stay on the bail order. Stating that he is not a flight risk, Singhvi urged the bench to stay the HC order before it is being pronounced. “I know what I am asking. This court must stay the high court order before it is being pronounced just like the high court had stayed the bail order on mere mentioning by the Enforcement Directorate," he submitted.
A vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti had said it will like to wait for the pronouncement of the HC order on the matter. Justice Misra, however, observed that the stay order is normally pronounced the same day and not reserved. “It’s unusual," he observed and added that the court would like to wait for the HC order to get the clear picture on the issue. The bench at the outset told Singhvi that pronouncing any order at this stage will be prejudging the issue. “We will be pre-judging the issue, if we pass any order at this stage. It is not some other court but the high court," the bench told Singhvi.
The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution. According to the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), irregularities were committed while modifying the policy and undue favours extended to the licence holders.
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