The CBI arrested Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor, in the liquor policy case on Wednesday. The probe agency presented Kejriwal in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court and mentioned that they could have conducted the exercise before the Lok Sabha elections but chose not to.
On Tuesday, the probe agency examined the AAP leader in Tihar Jail and recorded his statement regarding the Excise Policy case.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Kejriwal’s petition against the Delhi High Court’s order that temporarily stayed his bail in the money laundering case related to the liquor excise policy.
The Delhi High Court, on Tuesday, halted Kejriwal’s bail order issued by the trial court, stating that the trial court should have verified the satisfaction of the twin conditions of section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before issuing the order. The court mentioned that the vacation judge did not adequately consider the material documents provided by the ED.
Kejriwal has been in custody since March 21, except for a short period of interim bail granted by the Supreme Court for election campaigning. The case revolves around alleged irregularities in Delhi’s now-defunct 2021-22 excise policy.
What is the matter at hand?
The charges against Kejriwal arise from accusations of improprieties in Delhi’s recently abandoned excise policy for the year 2021-22. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) initiated an investigation into these allegations after receiving a suggestion from Delhi’s lieutenant governor in July 2022.