Arvind Kejriwal bail: High Court to pronounce order tomorrow at 2.30 pm

The Delhi High Court will pronounce its order on Tuesday on the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea challenging the trial court's order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The HC will pronounce its order at 2:30 pm. The High Court had on Friday stayed Kejriwal's release after the trial court granted him bail on June 20. The court also asked both parties to make written submissions by June 24. 

In its written submission, the probe agency said the AAP was the major beneficiary of the proceeds of crime generated in the liquor scam. It said the trial court had committed a "fatal error by totally ignoring the vicarious role" of Kejriwal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The agency also said that the court failed "to consider a single relevant material" placed before it, "demonstrating the neck-deep involvement" of Kejriwal.

The ED said that the AAP used part of the proceeds of crime upto around Rs 45 crore in the 2022 Assembly elections in Goa. In this manner, AAP has committed the offence of money laundering through Arvind Kejriwal, it said.

On Sunday, Kejriwal moved the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order putting an interim stay on his bail. However, a vacation bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti today said it would like to wait for the pronouncement of the high court order on the matter.   

Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, sought vacating of the interim stay on the bail order. He stated that Kejriwal is not a flight risk and urged the bench to stay the high court order before it is being pronounced. 

ASG SV Raju, appearing for the ED, opposed the plea and said the high court is about to pronounce the verdict on its stay application. The bench observed that the order is likely to be pronounced in a day or two. Justice Misra, however, observed that the stay order is normally pronounced the same day and not reserved. He said the court would like to wait for the high court order to get a clear picture on the issue.  

The bench at the outset told Singhvi that pronouncing any order at this stage would be prejudging the issue. "We will be pre-judging the issue, if we pass any order at this stage. It is not some other court but the high court," the bench told Singhvi.

The top court, however, posted the matter for hearing on June 26, a day after the high court's order. 

In its bail order, the trial court had held that prima facie, Kejriwal's guilt was yet to be established and that the probe agency had failed to provide direct evidence linking him to the proceeds of crime in the money laundering case.

(With inputs from PTI)