Arvind Kejriwal fourth AAP leader to get bail in Delhi Excise Policy case

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday became the fourth Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader to get bail in the Delhi excise policy case after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in relation to the case. .The others granted bail so far are former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Singh, and AAP's former communications in-charge Vijay Nair..The Delhi excise policy case involves allegations that political leaders conspired to intentionally leave behind loopholes in the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy of 2021-22. It was registered following a complaint by Delhi Lieutenant General (LG) VK Saxena and is being probed by both the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). .Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in this case on March 21 this year. He was briefly allowed release on interim bail by the Supreme Court to campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls before returning to prison on June 2. While he remained in custody in the ED case, the CBI also formally arrested him on June 26, in a move that Kejriwal's lawyers termed an "insurance arrest" to make sure he stays in jail if he is granted bail in the ED case. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, granted him interim bail on July 12 in the ED case while referring larger questions of law on the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to a larger Bench. However, he continued to remain in prison since the CBI had already arrested him.Kejriwal then approached the Delhi High Court directly for bail but the High Court asked the CM to move the trial court first. He then filed the present appeal before the apex court in which the Court's verdict was pronounced today.In today's verdict, a Division Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan held that Kejriwal is entitled to bail in the CBI case. Justice Bhuyan went one step further and also termed the CBI's June 26 arrest of Kejriwal unjustifiable and only meant to frustrate the grant of bail in the ED case against him. .Nair was arrested by the CBI in September 2022 in the corruption case being probed by it. He secured a bail order from the trial court in this case on November 14 that year, only for the ED to arrest him in the money laundering case on the same day. He spent the next 22 months in jail as an undertrial, before he was granted bail by the Supreme Court on September 2. .Sisodia was the first prominent AAP leader to be arrested in the case. He was taken into custody by the CBI on February 26, 2023, and then by the ED on March 9. He was unsuccessful in securing bail in two rounds of litigation. He remained in jail until August 9, when the Supreme Court granted him bail in both the CBI and ED cases. .MP Sanjay Singh was arrested on October 4, 2023, and secured a bail order from the Supreme Court in April this year. He was among the first political leaders to get bail in the money laundering case after the ED said that it had no objection if he is released (after the Supreme Court warned that it may record observations in Singh's favour in its bail order otherwise)..Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha too recently secured bail in the case from the Supreme Court.