Excise 'scam:' Delhi High Court lists ED’s plea against bail to CM Arvind Kejriwal for August 7

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday listed for August 7 the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea challenging bail granted to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise scam.

The high court had earlier stayed the trial court’s June 20 order by which Kejriwal was granted bail in the case.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, who was scheduled to hear the plea, was informed by the counsel for Kejriwal that the ED served them a copy of its rejoinder only late Sunday night and they need some time to file a reply to it.

He said the Supreme Court has granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the case on Friday and they will place on record the order copy. The lawyer urged the court to grant them 15 days for filing the rejoinder.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on August 7.

On June 20, Kejriwal was granted bail by a trial court here on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh.

The ED moved the high court the next day and contended that the trial court's order was "perverse", "one-sided" and "wrong-sided" and that the findings were based on irrelevant facts.

Opposing the ED’s petition, Kejriwal has said in his reply that he was a victim of "witch-hunt" by the probe agency and that cancellation of his bail granted by the trial court in the money laundering case would tantamount to "grave miscarriage of justice".

The embattled chief minister has said discretionary orders of bail cannot be set aside merely on "perceptions and fanciful imagination" of the prosecution.

The high court, on June 21, imposed an interim stay on the trial court’s bail order till passing of an order on the ED’s application for interim relief. It had issued notice and asked Kejriwal to file a reply to the ED’s petition.

On June 25, the high court passed a detailed order staying the trial court’s order granting bail to Kejriwal.

Kejriwal was arrested by the ED and the CBI on March 21 and June 26 respectively in the money laundering and corruption cases arising from the alleged scam.

The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution.

According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to licence holders.