Delhi HC Dismisses Arvind Kejriwal’s Plea Challenging CBI Arrest In Liquor Policy Case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday upheld Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI) in the alleged excise policy scam case. The High Court asked the Delhi CM to approach the trial court for bail in the case.

The High Court had reserved the order on the AAP leader’s bail plea on July 29 after hearing arguments of the counsel for Kejriwal and CBI. The verdict was reserved by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna.

The probe agency had opposed Kejriwal’s bail plea alleging that he was the “mastermind” of the excise scam and could potentially influence witnesses if released. “The investigation could not have been concluded without his arrest. Within a month we filed the charge sheet,” said CBI’s counsel advocate DP Singh.

Challenging his arrest, the Delhi CM’s counsel had contended that it was an “insurance arrest” to ensure that he stayed in prison. Calling his arrest a “sham”, Kejriwal’s lawyer had argued that the CBI did not want to arrest him and had no material to take him into custody, and the sequence of events made it clear that he was arrested to ensure that he remained in prison.

Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI on June 26 from Tihar Jail, where he is still lodged in judicial custody in a connected money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate. On July 12, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the money laundering case.

The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving the formulation and execution of the policy.