Supreme Court Grants Bail to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in Liquor Policy Case
On Friday, September 13, the Supreme Court of India granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case related to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam. This decision comes after Kejriwal had been in custody for nearly six months and was already facing charges from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the same matter.
The Supreme Court’s judgment stipulated that bail conditions would be determined by the trial court. The ruling was delivered through two concurring opinions. Justice Surya Kant’s judgment granted bail to Kejriwal, while Justice Ujjal Bhuyan issued a separate opinion, questioning the timing and justification of Kejriwal’s arrest, which he deemed belated and unjustified.
During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, argued that the CBI’s decision to arrest the Chief Minister after two years of inaction was a hasty move designed to prevent his release in a related money laundering case. Singhvi contended that the arrest was based on allegations of non-cooperation, although cooperation with an investigation should not compel an accused to self-incriminate.
Singhvi also emphasized that Kejriwal, as a high-ranking constitutional official, met the criteria for bail: he was not a flight risk, would cooperate with the investigative process, and could not tamper with the extensive documentation and digital evidence accumulated over two years.
In contrast, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, representing the CBI, opposed Kejriwal’s bail, arguing that his release could lead to witnesses becoming hostile. Raju asserted that several AAP candidates had only provided statements to the CBI after Kejriwal’s arrest. He suggested that Kejriwal’s bail plea should have been addressed by the trial court rather than the Delhi High Court, and that the arrest, made with a court order, did not violate fundamental rights.
The Supreme Court’s decision follows recent bail grants in related cases, including those of senior AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, BRS leader K. Kavitha, and AAP’s former communications chief Vijay Nair.
Kejriwal had previously been granted interim bail by the Supreme Court on July 12 in connection with the ED’s money laundering case but remained in custody due to the CBI’s ongoing investigation.
