Delhi High Court to Hear ED’s Plea Against Kejriwal’s Bail in Excise Scam on July 15

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court will hear Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea challenging the bail granted to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with alleged excise scam on July 15. This decision follows high court’s earlier stay on trial court’s June 20 order granting Kejriwal bail.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna is overseeing the case. She was informed by ED's counsel that they had received Kejriwal’s reply to their petition late Tuesday night. This necessitated additional time to file a rejoinder. ED's lawyer noted that reply was received at 11 PM on Tuesday. However Kejriwal’s counsel argued that it was actually served to investigating officer (IO) at 1 PM.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi represents Kejriwal. He requested court to expedite the hearing. He cited the urgency of the matter. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for ED countered that agency needed more time to review Kejriwal’s response. They needed time to prepare their rejoinder. He emphasized that documents should be served to the advocate in the case, not IO.

Despite opposition from Kejriwal’s lawyer who accused ED of attempting to delay the proceedings. The court acknowledged that ED was entitled to file a rejoinder. Consequently, the court granted agency additional time. The next hearing date was set for July 15.

Kejriwal was granted bail by a trial court on June 20. It was on personal bond of Rs 1 lakh. The ED immediately challenged this decision. They described trial court’s order as “perverse” “one-sided,” and “wrong-sided.” They claimed it was based on irrelevant facts. On June 21 the high court imposed an interim stay on trial court’s bail order. This was pending a decision on ED’s application for interim relief. A detailed order staying bail was issued by the high court on June 25.

The excise policy in question was scrapped in 2022. This followed an order for a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption in its formulation and execution. Both CBI and ED allege that modifications to excise policy involved irregularities. They claim there were undue favors to license holders. Kejriwal was arrested by ED and CBI on March 21 and June 26 respectively. This was in connection with money laundering and corruption cases.

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