Arvind Kejriwal withdraws bail plea before Supreme Court in ED case to file fresh petition

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday withdrew his plea before the Supreme Court challenging the interim stay imposed by Delhi High Court on the bail granted by trial court in the money laundering case connected to the now scrapped Delhi excise policy..Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said that since a final stay order was passed by the High Court yesterday, he would like to challenge the same as well.The current plea challenged only the interim stay order passed by the High Court on June 21.A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti allowed the request and permitted the Delhi CM to file a fresh plea. The Delhi High Court had on Tuesday imposed a stay on the trial court order.Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain of High Court said that the trial court did not apply its mind to the material submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and did not give adequate opportunity to the ED to argue its case.The High Court passed the order on a plea by ED seeking stay of the trial court order passed on June 20 granting bail to Kejriwal..Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 on allegations that he was part of a conspiracy to intentionally leave loopholes in the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22, to benefit certain liquor sellers.ED has alleged that kickbacks received from liquor sellers were used to fund the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) electoral campaign in Goa and Kejriwal being the National Convenor of the party is both personally and vicariously liable for the offence of money laundering.Kejriwal has denied the allegations and has accused the ED of running an extortion racket.Other AAP leaders arrested in the same case include former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia and Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh.Singh is currently out on bail though Sisodia continue to languish in jail.The trial court had on June 20 granted bail to Kejriwal and ordered his release subject to bail bond of ₹1 lakh.Special Judge Niyay Bindu of the Rouse Avenue Court said that ED failed to give any direct evidence linking Kejriwal to the proceeds of the crime and has also failed to show that another accused, Vijay Nair, was acting on Kejriwal's behalf.The special judge had also said that the ED was acting with bias against Kejriwal.The ED had immediately moved the Delhi High Court and secured an interim stay on the trial court order on June 21.Kejriwal then moved the present plea before the Supreme Court challenging the same. Meanwhile, the High Court passed a final stay order yesterday staying the bail.Kejriwal, therefore, sought permission today to file a fresh plea challenging the final stay order passed yesterday.The apex court allowed the same.