Excise policy case: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal gets bail; likely to walk out of jail on Friday

New Delhi: In a big relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a court here on Thursday granted him bail in liquor policy scam case, rejecting the Enforcement Directorate's plea opposing any concession to him.

Vacation Judge Nyay Bindu provided relief to him on a personal surety bond of Rs one lakh each. The bail bond is to be produced before the court on Friday. AAP leader is likely to come out of Tihar jail on Friday.

The court also rejected a plea by the ED's counsel to stay the order for 48 hours to approach the High Court.

Earlier, Kejriwal was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on May 10 to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. He had surrendered on June 2 as per the apex court's order. The apex court had then said he can approach the trial court for bail.

He was initially arrested by the Enforcement Directorate following a raid at his residence on March 21.

The ED had claimed he was the main kingpin and conspirator of the scam. The agency had accused him of having received Rs 100 crore for campaign during the Goa Assembly elections from the co-accused.

Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari, appearing for Kejriwal, raised questions over credibility of the material produced by the ED, contending statements of witnesses, who were granted pardons and turned approvers in the case could not be relied upon. He also said the applicant was arrested soon after the general elections were announced, which raised suspicion over the fairness of the probe by the agency.

He also pointed out Kejriwal has yet not been arrested by the CBI, which had termed him as witness in the case. He also submitted Kejriwal's case can't be compared with that of Manish Sisodia as he was arrested by both the CBI and the ED.

The counsel also questioned the ED's bid to rope in co-accused Chanpreet Singh, Vinod Chauhan and Vijay Nair to nail Kejriwal in the case.

Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, said Kejriwal has remained non-cooperative during the probe and an adverse inference must be drawn against him. He had not even disclosed password of his mobile phone, which can even be ground for refusing in an ordinary criminal case.

Kejriwal was declined interim bail on June 5 for seven days to undergo a series of tests owing to his ill health.