Supreme Court grants bail to Arvind Kejriwal, will be released from jail after 6 months

Six months after his arrest, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case related to the alleged liquor policy scam. This follows the release of other AAP leaders and marks a significant development ahead of the Haryana Assembly polls.

Six months after he was first arrested in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was granted bail by the Supreme Court in the CBI case on Friday. The Aam Aadmi Party leader can now leave jail - after nearly six months in prison without a trial - after having secured bail in a case filed by the Enforcement Directorate.

Kejriwal becomes the 5th high-profile leader to walk out of jail in the case after AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Vijay Nair and Bharat Rashtra Samithi's K Kavitha. He was arrested by the CBI on June 26. In the Supreme Court, the Chief Miniter challenged the Delhi High Court’s August 5 order which upheld his arrest in the corruption case. The high court observed that there was no cause to conclude that Kejriwal's arrest by the CBI was unlawful or without a valid purpose since pertinent evidence had been gathered since then.

AAP is preparing to take on the ruling BJP and its INDIA bloc partner Congress in the Haryana Assembly poll, and Kejriwal's release will give the party a boost ahead of the race.

The matter relates to alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which has now been scrapped. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also lodged a separate money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy 'scam'.