Excise policy case: HC seeks CBI response on Arvind Kejriwal's plea against his arrest

Delhi High Court on Arvind Kejriwal's CBI arrest

The Delhi High Court on July 2 sought the Central Bureau of Investigation's  (CBI) response on Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest in the excise policy case.

The case will come up hearing on July 17. Kejriwal likely to move a separate bail plea  against his arrest by CBI, according to the CM's lawyer.

The matter was heard by a bench headed by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna and it issued the notice to the CBI seeking a response within a week.

Kejriwal moved the HC after a Delhi court, on June 26, upheld the legality of his arrest and ordered him into CBI custody for three days. On June 29, he was sent to judicial custody till July 12 by the trial court.

Kejriwal, who was arrested in March 2024 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on money laundering charges in the liquor policy case, was granted bail by the trial court on June 20.

However, the Delhi high court on June 21 stayed a lower court's order granting bail to Kejriwal in the Delhi excise policy case. The court said it was reserving its order for two or three days to review the case records.

On June 25, the high court stayed the regular bail, saying the trial court “didn’t apply its mind” and could not have said that it was unable to read thousands of pages of documents.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) should have been given appropriate opportunity to present its case, the high court said.

The central agency that investigates economic offences, including money laundering, arrested the Delhi chief minister on March 21, saying he was the “kingpin” of the liquor policy designed to benefit a certain groups of people. The policy was later scrapped.

Kejriwal on June 26 withdrew his Supreme Court plea against a Delhi High Court order that stayed the regular bail granted to him by a trial court in an excise policy case.

The chief minister will file a new plea to challenge the high court's June 25 order that stayed the bail granted to him by Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court.