Kejriwal’s bail put on hold; hearing begins
In a huge setback for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi High Court on Friday stayed a lower court ruling giving him bail in a money laundering case related to the now-defunct tax scheme. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) disputed the trial court’s bail ruling.
A vacation bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja halted the trial court proceedings, stating, “Stay until the High Court takes up the matter.” “No proceedings will begin before the trial court (Rouse Avenue) until the Delhi High Court hears the case.”
The Delhi Chief Minister will now remain in jail until the High Court hears the matter.
Kejriwal granted bail by trial court yesterday
On Thursday, a vacation bench led by Justice Nyay Bindu granted Kejriwal bail while denying the ED’s request for a 48-hour stay of the ruling.
Also read: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal gets bail in liquor policy case
Agency not given fair opportunity to argue: ED lawyer
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, representing the ED, informed the Delhi High Court that the agency was denied a fair opportunity to submit its case. “The order has not been uploaded yet. Conditions are unknown. We have not had a fair opportunity to oppose,” Raju stated.
He claimed that he was not given enough time to defend the case or file written comments, and he showed his dissatisfaction with the procedure by saying, “My arguments were cut short before the vacation judge.” We have not been given the option of responding either. This is completely unfair.”
Citing Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Raju urged the court to stay the bail order and allow the matter to be heard at length.
Senior counsel Vikram Chaudhary defended Arvind Kejriwal against the ED’s challenge. “All of these submissions are incorrect. They had a long argument. Seven hours of arguing isn’t enough? “Someone should gracefully accept something,” Chaudhary replied.
Raju replied, emphasizing the importance of a stay. “This cannot stay for a day where the public prosecutor was denied the opportunity to even argue.”
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Kejriwal was arrested by ED on March 21
Kejriwal was detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in dramatic scenes just before the Lok Sabha election. In May, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in preparation for the general elections. He surrendered on June 2.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh slammed the Delhi High Court’s judgment and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of mocking the judiciary.
“Consider the hooliganism of the Modi government. The trial court’s order has not yet arrived, and a copy of the order is not available. Then which order has Modi’s ED challenged in the High Court? “Why are you making fun of the justice system, Modiji?” he tweeted.
