New Delhi: The Supreme Court on July 12 granted Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal interim bail in the money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate. The court noted that Kejriwal had been detained for more than ninety days and that the matter concerned an individual’s right to life and liberty.
The ruling for interim bail was made by a bench consisting of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta because it referred one of the matters in the case to a larger bench. The bench stated that a larger bench should decide the legal parameters of the necessity of an arrest as well as the proportionality theory in ED cases where investigating agents have been granted a great deal of latitude in making arrests.
Aam Admi Party (AAP) held a press conference in Delhi at 11 AM in this regard. “The investigation going on since the past two years in the alleged money laundering or excise policy scam is simply a plot by the Bhartiya Janata Party”, said Minister Atishi during the press conference. The party also shared the video of the press conference on its social media account on X.
The court decided to order Kejriwal’s release on interim bail while the larger issue was being resolved. It further stated that Kejriwal must make his own decisions and that courts cannot order him to resign as chief minister due to his involvement in the present case.
The verdict gives Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a significant legal win and much-needed impetus for the party’s political narrative. Due to a different case that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into regarding the excise policy, Kejriwal will stay in detention.
The AAP president was detained by the CBI on June 26 on allegations of corruption and criminal conspiracy related to the excise policy case, while the Supreme Court was still considering whether to uphold the challenge to his ED detention. He has been detained by the authorities in ED and CBI cases.
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