The Supreme Court Friday granted interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. The court said that it is Kejriwal’s call whether he wants to continue as Chief Minister. 

The court was hearing Kejriwal’s challenge to his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Granting the CM bail, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta referred some questions regarding the need and necessity of the arrest to a larger bench.

“Kejriwal suffered for 90 days in jail. He is an elected leader and it is up to him whether he wants to continue in the role of CM or not,” the top court stated in its verdict. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hailed the Supreme Court decision to grant interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister on his plea challenging arrest by the ED in the alleged liquor scam case. 

However, Kejriwal will continue to remain in jail as he was also arrested by the CBI on June 26 in connection with a corruption case linked to the excise policy case. The ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21.

The apex court reserved its verdict on the plea by Kejriwal, who is represented by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, on May 17. The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) national convenor was arrested by the ED on March 21, having skipped all nine summons sent by the federal agency.

In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Kejriwal argued that his arrest after the announcement (March 18) of the General Elections was “motivated by extraneous considerations”.  The Delhi chief minister approached the apex court against the April 9 order of the Delhi High Court that had upheld his arrest in the case.

The apex court had on April 15 sought a response from the ED on Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest in the money laundering case. The AAP chief has challenged in the top court the April 9 order of the Delhi High Court that had upheld his arrest in the case.