New Delhi: The Supreme Court is set to deliver its verdict today on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. The bench, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, had reserved its judgment on May 17.
Kejriwal, who is also the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, was arrested on March 21 by the ED. He subsequently challenged the April 9 order of the Delhi High Court, which had upheld his arrest. The High Court stated that there was no illegality in the arrest, emphasizing that the ED was left with “little option” after Kejriwal repeatedly skipped summonses and refused to join the investigation.
On April 15, the Supreme Court sought a response from the central probe agency regarding Kejriwal’s plea. The Supreme Court had earlier granted Kejriwal a 21-day interim bail on May 10 to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls, directing him to surrender on June 2, a day after the last phase of the seven-phased elections was scheduled to conclude.
Kejriwal was granted bail by a trial court in Delhi on June 20. However, the ED contested this decision in the Delhi High Court the following day, calling the trial court’s order “perverse”, “one-sided”, and “wrong-sided”. On June 21, the High Court imposed an interim stay on the trial court’s bail order, and on June 25, it issued a detailed order upholding this stay. Five days later, Kejriwal was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the corruption case related to the alleged liquor policy scam.
Central probe agencies have alleged irregularities in the modification of the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, claiming undue favours were extended to licence holders. The Delhi government introduced a new policy for liquor sellers in November 2021, stopping government outlets from selling liquor and allowing private parties to apply for licenses to operate stores. The policy aimed to curb black marketing, increase government revenue, and benefit customers. However, the Delhi government later scrapped the new liquor policy and reverted to the previous one.
