Arvind Kejriwal Bail Hearing Live Updates: He was earlier granted interim bail to campaign for elections
Arvind Kejriwal Bail Hearing Live Updates:
In a setback to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi High Court today stayed the trial court order granting him bail in a money laundering case. A vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain pronounced its verdict on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking a stay on the June 20 trial court order.
The High Court agreed with the ED’s allegations that the trial court did not hear the probe agency properly.
Arvind Kejriwal, also the national convenor of the AAP, was arrested on March 21 in a corruption case related to the Delhi liquor policy.
He was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in May to campaign for Lok Sabha elections. He returned to jail on June 2.
Here are live updates on Arvind Kejriwal’s bail hearing:
Arvind Kejriwal Bail Hearing Live
The High Court agreed with the ED’s allegations that the trial court did not hear the probe agency properly.
During the hearing, Delhi High Court said that the mandatory conditions under PMLA has not been properly discussed in the trial court order on Arvind Kejriwal’s bail. It also said that the vacation judge did not discuss about the vicarious liability of Mr Kejriwal under section 70 PMLA.
Arvind Kejriwal Bail Hearing Live Updates: Hearing Begins In Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has begun hearing on Arvind Kejriwal’s bail order.
The ED arrested Arvind 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 probe agency has alleged that the money Mr Kejriwal and the AAP got from the liquor sellers – around Rs 100 crore – was used to fund the party’s poll campaign in Goa and Punjab.
Both Mr Kejriwal and the AAP have rubbished the charges, calling them political vendetta and pointing out that despite months of searching the ED has still not found the alleged bribe money.
“Let High Court Pass Order”: Supreme Court On Arvind Kejriwal’s PleaEarlier on Monday, the Supreme Court refused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal immediate relief in his battle to overturn the High Court’s interim stay on a bail order issued last week by a lower court.
The court responded to Mr Kejriwal’s arguments – that the High Court erred in staying bail without fully reading the order, and rationale, of the lower court – by saying it would wait till the said order came on record, and the High Court had a chance to re-examine the stay – before ruling on his plea.
The court fixed Wednesday as the next hearing date.
Justice Manoj Misra said, “In stay matters, orders are not reserved but passed on the spot. What has happened here is unusual.”
The ED has contended that the trial court’s order granting bail to Arvind Kejriwal was “perverse”, “one-sided” and “wrong-sided” and that the findings were based on irrelevant facts.
In a note filed on Monday in relation to the plea to stay the bail order, the probe agency also said the decision did not consider the material demonstrating the AAP leader’s “neck deep involvement” in the offence of money laundering linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.
On June 20, Special Judge Niyay Bindu, who sat as the vacation judge, granted bail to Mr Kejriwal, saying the ED failed to furnish direct evidence linking him to the proceeds of crime in the money laundering case.
The trial court in Delhi had granted bail to Arvind 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.
In his written submission filed on Monday, Arvind Kejriwal, also the AAP’s national convenor, defended the bail order by the trial court. He asserted that no prejudice would be caused to the ED if he is released at this stage as he could be sent back to custody in case the high court subsequently decides to set aside the order.
Staying the operation of “the well-reasoned bail order” would amount to virtually allowing the petition for cancellation of the bail, he argued.
A vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain had reserved the order on Arvind Kejriwal’s bail June 21 after the ED challenged the trial court’s decision and put it in abeyance until the pronouncement.
The Delhi High Court will shortly pronounce its verdict on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) seeking a stay on the trial court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Mr Kejriwal has been arrested in a money laundering case related to Delhi liquor policy. The order is scheduled to be pronounced at 2:30 p.m.