Delhi High Court halts release of Arvind Kejriwal after ED’s urgent mentioning

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday halted the release of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal on bail after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved the Court challenging the trial court’s bail order in the money laundering case connected to the Delhi excise policy.

The plea was mentioned before a vacation bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju on behalf of ED.

“I am moving for an urgent stay. The order was pronounced yesterday at 8. The order is not uploaded. We were not given a clear opportunity to oppose bail,” he said.

Pertinently, the ASG cited Bar & Bench’s report to argue that he was not given adequate opportunity by the trial court to oppose the bail plea.

“It is on Bar and Bench that they curtailed my arguments. My prayer for stay on the bail order wasn’t even considered. I am demanding that the order be stayed and the matter be heard as soon as possible. We were denied the full opportunity to argue the case. I am making allegations with full seriousness,” the ASG said.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal opposed the request for stay.

“There are ten Supreme Court judgments that cancellation of bail is radically different from grant of bail,” he said.

The High Court after hearing the counsel directed that the bail order should not be given effect until the Court hears the matter.

“The bail order will not be given effect. We have not passed the final order. You may argue for as much as you can,” the Court said halting the release of Kejriwal.

It then proceeded to list the matter for hearing today.

The trial court had on Thursday granted bail to Kejriwal.