Arvind Kejriwal Withdraws Petition In Supreme Court Challenging Delhi HC's First Stay Order On Bail; Liberty Given To File Fresh Petition

To elaborate, it was on June 21 when the High Court had passed an interim stay against operation of the trial court's order which granted bail to Delhi's Chief Minister in the liquor policy case. While doing so, the Court had reserved its final orders on the stay application, filed by the ED. Shortly thereafter, the AAP leader challenged this order before the Supreme Court.

Terming the Delhi High Court's approach to reserve order on the ED's stay application against Arvind Kejriwal's bail was "a bit unusual", and the Top Court listed the matter (on June 24) for today. The Court marked that it does not want to "pre-judge" the issue when the High Court's order is awaited.

Following this development, yesterday, the High Court, in its final order, allowed ED's application and stayed the aforementioned trial court's order of bail. Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said that the Vacation Judge passed the bail order without going through ED's entire material, which reflects “perversity” in it.

Importantly, hours after Delhi High Court stayed the bail granted, Chief Minister was questioned by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in relation to the corruption case connected to the alleged liquor policy scam. Today, Kejriwal will be produced before the Delhi Court where the Central agency will seek his custody. 

Brief Background Of The Trial Court And The High Court's Order

On June 20, the trial judge had granted Kejriwal bail in the money laundering case after forming a prima facie opinion that he is not guilty of the office. The next day, the Enforcement Directorate moved an urgent petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the bail order. A single judge of the High Court heard the matter the same day. After hearing both the sides extensively, the single bench reserved orders on the ED's application to stay the bail order. The High Court also ordered that till the pronouncement of the order, the operation of the bail order will stand stayed.

In its final order, the High Court noted that the observation made by the Vacation Judge in Impugned Order was “uncalled for, unwarranted and out of context.”

The Court added that the Vacation Judge failed to discuss the requirement of section 45 of PMLA while passing the bail order.

It may be noted that the bail order by Vacation Judge Niyay Bindu of Rouse Avenue Court contained scathing observations against the ED. The judge went to the extent of drawing an inference that the ED was acting with bias against Kejriwal. The order further held that the ED had not shown any direct evidence regarding the proceeds of the crime.

Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21. In May, he was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court till June 01 in view of general elections. He surrendered on June 2.

Case Details: Arvind Kejriwal v. Enforcement Directorate | Diary No.27685/2024