Arvind Kejriwal gets bail in liquor policy case after 6 months of jail

Six months after his initial arrest in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case on Friday. This marks a significant moment for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as Kejriwal becomes the fourth high-profile figure to be released in connection with the case, following the release of fellow AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Vijay Nair, and Bharat Rashtra Samithi's K Kavitha.

Kejriwal's release comes at a crucial time for AAP, as the party is gearing up for the Haryana Assembly elections. The party hopes this development will bolster its challenge against the incumbent BJP and its INDIA bloc partner, Congress.

The Delhi Chief Minister was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged liquor policy scam. On June 26, while still in ED custody, Kejriwal was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on corruption charges. Although he was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in the ED case on July 12, he remained in jail due to the CBI's arrest.

Kejriwal, who suffers from type II diabetes, had argued during his Supreme Court hearing that the CBI's arrest occurred just as he was about to be released in the ED case. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, called the CBI's actions an "insurance arrest" designed to prevent the AAP chief from leaving jail.

Singhvi also stressed that Kejriwal, as a "constitutional functionary," posed no flight risk and had no chance to tamper with the evidence, which had already been collected and was primarily documentary in nature.

Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the CBI, argued that a significant portion of the kickbacks from the excise policy was used by AAP during the Goa Assembly polls in 2022. He objected to Kejriwal's bail petition, noting that the Chief Minister had not sought bail from the trial court, which is typically the first course of action. Raju also expressed concerns that granting bail could undermine the Delhi High Court's authority.