In a major relief to AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday granted him bail in the money-laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy case. Vacation Judge Niyay Bindu passed the order after hearing from Kejriwal and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over two days. Kejriwal is likely to walk out of jail on Friday.
The special judge ordered Kejriwal's release on a personal bond of `1 lakh. “Accused is admitted to bail in the sum of `1 lakh,” the judge said while passing the order. The bail bond will be produced before the duty judge on Friday.
The court, however, imposed certain conditions on the AAP leader before granting him the relief, including that he will not try to hamper the investigation or influence the witnesses.
The judge also directed Kejriwal to appear before the court whenever required and to cooperate with the investigation.
AAP leader Atishi reacted to the grant of bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday by saying 'Satyamev Jayate" (truth alone triumphs). Feeling vindicated, the Aam Aadmi Party said truth cannot be defeated, only harassed. "Truth can be troubled, not defeated. Rejecting all the objections raised by BJP's ED, the Honorable Court has granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister @ArvindKejriwal," the party said in a post on X.
The court has also declined the Enforcement Directorate (ED) plea to stay Kejriwal's bail order for 48 hours. ED's special counsel Zoheb Hossain prayed for stay of the order till the probe agency exercises its legal remedies. However, the court rejected the request for stay.
Earlier in the day, Special Judge Niyay Bindu reserved the order after hearing the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which sought to link Kejriwal to the alleged proceeds of crime and co-accused, and the defence that claimed the prosecution has no evidence to nail the AAP leader. The court had on Wednesday extended Kejriwal’s judicial custody till July 3 in the case.
During the arguments, the ED told the court that on November 7, 2021, Kejriwal stayed at hotel Grand Hyatt in Goa during the assembly poll campaign and the bill was paid by Chanpreet Singh, who is alleged to have managed the AAP funds in the coastal state.
"Rs 1 lakh was paid in two instalments (to the hotel). It was paid by Chanpreet Singh (co-accused) from his bank account. Chanpreet is the person who received Rs 45 crore from different 'Angadiyas' (couriers)," the ED told the court.
The Angadia system is an old parallel banking system where traders send cash from one state to another through a trusted courier. It is generally in prevalence in the jewellery business in Mumbai and Gujarat.
ASG SV Raju appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted that co accused Chanpreet Singh received huge cash amounts from entrepreneurs and paid bills of hotel stay of Arvind Kejriwal. He said that it is not that the ED was doing investigation in the air and that the central probe agency has concrete evidence in the case. “Kejriwal says my phone is sacrosanct. Mai password nahi dunga. (I will not give my password). We had to resort to the phone of Vinod Chauhan. He is sitting quiet. Many times it has happened that accused says I will not... An adverse inference has to be drawn from the fact that Kejriwal has refused to give his password. This is a ground for refusing bail under ordinary bail law, forget section 45 PMLA for the time being,” ASG said.
The ED also targeted Kejriwal for repeatedly disobeying summons to join the investigation. "He showed wilful disobedience of summons. We didn't arrest him despite him disobeying nine summons," the ED told the court.
Kejriwal's counsel, however, asserted that the entire case against him rests on statements. "The statements are of those people who have confessed to being guilty. They are not saints here. They are those who are not only tainted, but it appears that some who were arrested were given a promise of bail and promise of being granted pardon. Approvers. And there is another category who have not been arrested," the counsel said. "Circumstances have to be so intrinsically linked (as to) lead to the guilt. These statements by tainted persons discredit the case of prosecution. There is no evidence that Rs 100 crore came from South Group. These are all statements. There is no evidence," the counsel said.
According to the ED and the CBI, the South Group is a cartel of politicians, business people and others who lobbied for liquor licences for which they paid bribe to the Delhi's ruling party. Kejriwal's lawyer claimed there were contradictions in the statements made by several co-accuse.
Advancing his arguments on Wednesday, Kejriwal's counsel said the Supreme Court had granted the chief minister interim bail after being satisfied that there was no likelihood of him trying to escape justice or influence the investigation or witnesses. He also said Kejriwal has no criminal antecedents.The ED opposed Kejriwal's application, asserting, “The requirement is not that you don't have (criminal) antecedents.”
