The Delhi High Court has scheduled May 8 to hear the Enforcement Directorate’s plea challenging bail granted to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy-linked money laundering case. The court has also directed that the trial court records be called for review before the hearing.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday fixed May 8 as the next date of hearing on the plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the bail granted to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged excise policy-linked money laundering case.
The matter was listed before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, who directed that the entire record of the trial court be called for examination before the next hearing.
When the case was taken up, the counsel appearing for Kejriwal requested the court to take up the matter later in the day, stating that the senior counsel was not available at that moment.
However, the court declined the request, observing that it was already 3 pm and remarked,
“Then we will have it some other day. Passover is not possible,”
before fixing May 8 as the date for detailed hearing.
The case relates to the alleged money laundering linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. Earlier, on July 12, 2024, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the money laundering case.
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At the same time, the apex court referred three important legal questions to a larger bench, particularly concerning the “need and necessity of arrest” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Prior to that, on June 20, 2024, a trial court in Delhi had granted bail to Kejriwal on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh. However, that bail order was subsequently stayed by the Delhi High Court after the ED approached it by filing the present plea challenging the relief granted to the AAP leader.
Kejriwal, who is also the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21, 2024, in connection with the money laundering case.
He was later arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 26, 2024, in a related corruption case arising out of the same excise policy matter.
The Delhi excise policy, which came into force in 2021, was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi Lieutenant Governor ordered a CBI investigation into alleged irregularities in its formulation and implementation.
According to the CBI and the ED, several changes were allegedly made to the policy in a manner that benefited certain liquor licence holders, and undue favours were extended during the process.
With the trial court record now called for and the hearing fixed in May, the Delhi High Court will next examine whether the bail granted to Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case should be upheld or set aside, as sought by the Enforcement Directorate.
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