Delhi HC to pass order today on ED’s plea for stay on Arvind Kejriwal's bail

The Delhi High Court will pronounce its verdict today on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate seeking a stay on the trial court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise scam.

The order is scheduled to be pronounced at 2:30 p.m.

A vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain had reserved the order on June 21 after the agency challenged the trial court's decision and put it in abeyance until the pronouncement.

The AAP national convenor, who was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), could have walked out of Tihar jail had the high court not granted the interim relief to the central anti-money laundering agency.

The trial court granted bail to Kejriwal on June 20 and ordered his release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh, and imposed certain conditions, including that he will not try to hamper the investigation or influence the witnesses.

ED has contended that the trial court's order was "perverse", "one-sided" and "wrong-sided" and that the findings were based on irrelevant facts.

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 CBI and ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to the licence holders.