Delhi High Court halts release of Arvind Kejriwal after ED's urgent mentioning

The Delhi High Court on Friday halted the release of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal on bail after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved the Court challenging the trial court's bail order in the money laundering case connected to the Delhi excise policy. .The plea was mentioned before a vacation bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju on behalf of ED. "I am moving for an urgent stay. The order was pronounced yesterday at 8. The order is not uploaded. We were not given a clear opportunity to oppose bail," he said.Pertinently, the ASG cited Bar & Bench's report to argue that he was not given adequate opportunity by the trial court to oppose the bail plea. "It is on Bar and Bench that they curtailed my arguments. My prayer for stay on the bail order wasn't even considered. I am demanding that the order be stayed and the matter be heard as soon as possible. We were denied the full opportunity to argue the case. I am making allegations with full seriousness," the ASG said.Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal opposed the request for stay."There are ten Supreme Court judgments that cancellation of bail is radically different from grant of bail," he said.The High Court after hearing the counsel directed that the bail order should not be given effect until the Court hears the matter."The bail order will not be given effect. We have not passed the final order. You may argue for as much as you can," the Court said halting the release of Kejriwal.It then proceeded to list the matter for hearing today..The trial court had on Thursday granted bail to Kejriwal.Vacation Judge Niyay Bindu had ordered Kejriwal's release on a bail bond of ₹1 lakh.The ED had asked the court to stay Kejriwal's release for 48 hours but the judge had refused the request..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..Supreme Court in May had granted interim bail to Kejriwal to allow him campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. He returned to jail on June 2 after the interim bail period allowed by the top court came to an end.He had also filed an application seeking interim bail for seven days on medical grounds. However, the same was rejected by trial court on June 5.Subsequently, his regular bail plea on merits was allowed by the trial court prompting the ED to approach the High Court.