AAP to move SC against stay on bail for CM in excise policy case

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said it disagrees with the Delhi High Court order staying the bail granted to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the trial court and will challenge it in the Supreme Court.

The trial court had granted bail to Kejriwal on June 20 in the money laundering case stemming from the alleged Delhi excise policy scam and ordered his release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh.

The high court stayed the trial court order on Tuesday.

A vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said the trial court failed to appreciate the material placed before it by the Enforcement Directorate and did not apply its mind while deciding the AAP leader’s bail plea.

The judge also said the trial court ought to have given adequate opportunity to the agency to argue its case.

Reacting to the development, the AAP said they will approach the apex court.

“We disagree with the Delhi High Court order. We will challenge it in the Supreme Court,” the party said.

When asked about the high court order at a press conference, Delhi Cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the AAP’s legal team will decide the future course of action.

“A high court bench stayed the order of the lower court without even the order getting uploaded. I did not have any hope from the high court.

“I think the high court bench was prejudiced. We will approach the higher court. Our legal team will decide the strategy and the time when we approach the higher court,” he said. After the trial court granted bail to Kejriwal, the ED

moved the high court the next day and contended the trial court’s order was “perverse”, “one-sided” and “wrong-sided” and that the findings were based on irrelevant facts.

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