Truth won, conspiracies have failed: AAP on SC’s bail to CM

AAP general secretary Sandeep Pathak called the SC order “historic” and said that it has demolished the “so-called liquor scam” by granting Kejriwal bail

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday termed the Supreme Court order, granting interim bail to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), a “victory of truth, and a defeat of the BJP’s (Bharatiya Janata Party) conspiracy”, even as the CM will continue to remain in jail in a separate case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Delhi excise policy 2021-22.

Arvind Kejriwal (Reuters)

AAP general secretary Sandeep Pathak called the top court’s order “historic” and said that the Supreme Court has demolished the “so-called liquor scam” by granting Kejriwal bail.

“Now, the BJP should close the case and not waste people’s time. The BJP puts Opposition leaders in jail when it fails to defeat them in elections,” he said.

On Friday, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the case registered by ED against him in connection with the now-scrapped excise policy, saying he has suffered incarceration for over 90 days and that the issue involves the right to life and liberty of an individual.

“The court has studied this case and sent it to a larger bench. The court has granted interim bail to Kejriwal. It is worth noting that in a PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) case, bail or interim bail is granted to someone only after hearing and seeing all the arguments and evidence,” said Pathak.

“When the Rouse Avenue court gave bail to Kejriwal, it made it clear that ED does not have any evidence against him and that it is working with a bias against him. The Supreme Court has put its stamp on the Rouse Avenue court verdict,” she said.

“The BJP knew that bail has been granted by the Rouse Avenue court, they knew that bail will be granted by the Supreme Court as well. That is why they hatched another conspiracy and the day before Kejriwal’s bail case was about to come up in the Supreme Court… the BJP got Kejriwal arrested by its another political weapon — CBI. Why was he arrested by CBI? They got him arrested only and only because if he gets bail in the ED case, Kejriwal will come out and start working for the people of Delhi at 10 times the speed,” Atishi said.

ED arrested Kejriwal on March 21 in a money laundering case related to the alleged irregularities in the implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22. The Supreme Court granted interim bail to him on May 10 to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.

The trial court granted Kejriwal bail on June 20 before the high court stayed it. CBI arrested Kejriwal on June 26 at the Rouse Avenue court complex.

Meanwhile, AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Modi, for how long will you keep the truth imprisoned by filing false cases? The whole country is watching your dictatorship. Be it... the Supreme Court, everyone believes that Kejriwal has been falsely implicated by ED. The decision of the Supreme Court is the victory of truth. Down with dictatorship,” Sanjay Singh said in a post on X.

AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said: “Bringing Section 19 into effect in this case is only the perception of ED officers. It is worth noting that the PMLA law under which the bail provisions are so strict, the rules of arrest will also be of high standard. It is not possible that you arrest someone on every small issue and then do not grant bail. Similarly, if bail is easy in any law, then arrest is also easy in it.”

Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that the interim bail does not mean that Kejriwal has been absolved of corruption. “The matter is still under the consideration of the court,” said Sachdeva. BJP lawmaker Vijender Gupta said that the AAP is celebrating as if Kejriwal has been absolved. “Even in [murder cases], the accused get bail,” he added.