Arvind Kejriwal
The Supreme Court has granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case related to the Delhi liquor policy, brought by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). However, Kejriwal will remain in jail as he is also being questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a different case.
The judgment was delivered by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, noting that Kejriwal had been incarcerated for over 90 days. Kejriwal, who is also the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief, was arrested on March 21 by the ED in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.
Arvind Kejriwal had previously challenged an April 9 Delhi High Court order that refused to grant him bail. The high court had upheld his arrest, stating there was no illegality and that the central agency had little choice after he skipped multiple summonses and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
The Supreme Court’s decision was welcomed by the AAP, which posted “Satyamev Jayate” (Truth alone triumphs) on X (formerly Twitter) along with a picture of Kejriwal holding the national flag.
Both the ED and CBI are investigating the money laundering aspect of the now-defunct Delhi liquor policy. The policy, introduced in November 2021, allowed private licensees to run liquor stores, but was scrapped in September 2022 after Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar reported gross violations and undue benefits to liquor licensees.
The CBI alleges that liquor companies were involved in framing the policy to secure a 12% profit, and that a liquor lobby, dubbed the “South Group,” paid ₹100 crore in kickbacks to the AAP, with part of these funds being laundered.
