New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been granted bail in the liquor policy case. He is expected to come out of the jail tomorrow, Friday (June 21).
Kejriwal’s lawyer had argued that the entire case of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) rested on the statements of those who turned approvers in the case. The lawyer had asserted that ED has no evidence against Kejriwal.
After the court’s order, the ED’s request for 48 hours to sign the bail bond in order for the central agency to challenge it before the relevant court was denied. However, the ED said it will challenge the trial court order.
“The statements are of those people who have confessed to being guilty. They are not saints here. They are those who are not only tainted, but it appears that some who were arrested were given a promise of bail, and promise of being granted pardon. Approvers. And there is another category who have not been arrested,” Kejriwal’s lawyer had told the court, according to NDTV.
“Circumstances have to be so intrinsically linked (as to) lead to the guilt. These statements by tainted persons discredit the case of the prosecution. There is no evidence that Rs 100 crore came from ‘South Group’. These are all statements. There is no evidence,” the chief minister’s lawyer argued.
According to ED, the ‘South Group’ refers to a lobby from Telangana that allegedly conspired to grab liquor licences in the national capital.
The Delhi chief minister was arrested on March 21 in relation to money laundering allegations in the Delhi liquor policy 2021-22. It was scrapped after the Delhi lieutenant governor had expressed concerns over it. The ED’s case is that Kejriwal used money received from liquor sellers to fund his Aam Aadmi Party’s election campaigner in the Goa assembly elections.
