Arvind Kejriwal has been granted interim bail today by the supreme court of India. However, he is still in cutody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as he is being questioned regrading some other case.
The supreme court had to hear and give the final judgement on the money laundering case related to Delhi’s chief minister- Arvind Kejriwal. The arrest was made due to the excise policy case by Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A two-person bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta had to announce the verdict on 12th July. The apex court was supposed to hear the plea that was rejected by the Delhi High court. Arvind Kejriwal has argued that the arrest that has been made is “due to irrelevant consideration” that too just after the general elections.
Arvind Kejriwal also the leader of Aam Admi Party (AAP) was first arrested on 21 May 2024 as he was charged will allegations of giving illegal favors to some license owners related to the liquor policy.
Arguments and Background regrading Arvind Kejriwal
The last hearing of the case in supreme court was on 17 May where the Additional Solicitor General, S.V Raju had claimed that they had found proof of the fact that illegal money was transferred. According to Raju the money was transferred by AAP through the hawala channels. He also claimed to have seen the chats between Arvind Kejriwal and hawala operators verifying the crime.
In defence of the argument, Keriwal’s advocate Mr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi has questioned as to why these proofs were not available at the time of arrests in May. According to him the evidences have been collected after the arrest of CM of Delhi.
Earlier on 10 May Arvind Kejriwal was granted an interim bail till 1 June due to campaigning of Lok Sabha elections. However, he was not allowed to visit the Chief Minister’s office or Delhi Secretariat. Kejriwal surrendered again on 2nd of June 2024.
On 20th of June again, an interim bail was filed, but Enforcement Directorate moves to High Court the next day itself and claimed the decision to be ‘wrong’ and therefore the bail was taken back.
On 9 April 2024 when the case was in hands of Delhi High court, it had dismissed the plea saying that the claim made by Arvind Kejriwal that arrest is due to political disputes is null and void. It also said that Keriwal had ignored nine summon by ED over a period of 6 months which showed his non-cooperation and this was the reason of arrest without the evidences.
About Delhi Liquor Policy
The AAP government came out with the liquor policy in 2021. According to the new policy, only private liquor sellers were allowed to sell while government liquor shops were closed down.
“It was done to increase sales of government and bring benefits for sellers”- government said.
Many sellers were benefitted from the scheme and state government recorded a 27 percent rise in revenue.
Under the new policy, sellers could give discounts to any limits and keep shops open after midnight too. This created a controversy as opposing party- Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) claimed that it would lead to rise in ‘liquor culture’.
Later, it was alleged that Arvind Kejriwal was giving ‘undue benefits’ to liquor sellers. This led to a controversy and case was handed over to CBI for investigation.
The issue led to fistfight between political parties as BJP showered AAP with allegations while Kejriwal has to come up with suitable arguments to defend himself. Under this case, Manish Sisodia, the education minister of Delhi was also arrested.
The case continues to be investigated and the tensions between courts, CBI and parties prevail.
