A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case connected to the now-scrapped liquor policy.
The order was passed by Rouse Avenue Court’s vacation Judge Nyay Bindu after reserving it earlier today. After the order was passed, the ED requested the court to give 48 hours to it to exercise its legal remedies. However, the judge refused to stay the order.
The ED has decided to challenge the bail order before the Delhi High Court. The AAP supremo can walk out of Tihar Jail on Friday after paying a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh.
AAP workers burst firecrackers outside the Delhi Chief Minister’s residence as soon as the order was pronounced. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said Kejriwal’s release would “strengthen democracy”.
“ED’s statements till now were based on lies… this is a baseless fake case formed to trap Kejriwal,” Sanjay Singh said.
Kejriwal is the second AAP leader after Sanjay Singh to be granted bail in the case. Former Delhi minister Manish Sisodia continues to languish in Tihar Jail.
Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in dramatic scenes just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. In May, he was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in view of general elections. He surrendered on June 2.
WHAT ED, TEAM KEJRIWAL ARGUED DURING HEARING
During the hearing, the ED claimed it had evidence of Arvind Kejriwal demanding Rs 100 crore as kickbacks in the liquor policy case. The central probe agency also alleged that kickbacks received from liquor sellers were used to fund AAP’s poll campaign in Goa.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju also said there was a direct money trail of proceeds of crime being transferred from the South Group, of which BRS leader K Kavitha was a part, to the AAP.
ASG Raju also claimed that Kejriwal refused to give the password of his phone during the investigation.
“Kejriwal says my phone is sacrosanct. Mai password nahi dunga. (I will not give my password). We had to resort to the phone of Vinod Chauhan (accused in the case). He is sitting quiet. An adverse inference has to be drawn from the fact that Kejriwal has refused to give his password. This is a ground for refusing bail under ordinary bail law, forget section 45 PMLA for the time being,” ASG Raju said.
The ASG claimed that Vinod Chauhan was managing transfers and postings of Delhi government officials.
‘ED’S CHARGES NOT BACKED BY PROOF’
Meanwhile, Kejriwal, represented by senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, claimed that the ED’s allegations were not backed by any proof and punched holes into their claims.
He also argued that the AAP supremo had not been named in any chargesheet filed under PMLA.
“Is ED an independent agency or playing in the hands of some political masters? The ED draws all its conclusions based on hypothesis,” Chaudhary said.
“They say I am the national convenor of AAP and that’s why I am responsible for everything done by the party. There is nothing to show that Rs 45 crore was ever received by AAP. This is all in the realm of speculation, prejudices and beliefs. They are still arresting and evaluating but keep on making a statement that Rs 100 crore bribe was received,” Chaudhary further said.