Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is all set to walk out of Tihar jail today after being granted bail by the Rouse Avenue court in a money laundering case linked to the alleged liquor policy scam.
Kejriwal's lawyers are likely to submit the bail bond of Rs 1 lakh before the court later today, after which he will be released from Tihar jail, where he has been lodged since June 2 after his interim bail ended. His wife, Sunita Kejriwal, is likely to go to the high-security prison at 4 PM today, sources said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), meanwhile, said it would file a plea in the Delhi High Court against the relief to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo if he walks out of jail. This comes after the Rouse Avenue court rejected the federal probe agency's prayer to keep the bail order in abeyance for 48 hours to allow it to avail legal remedies like moving a higher court in appeal.
The court imposed certain conditions before granting relief to Kejriwal, including that he will not try to hamper the investigation or influence the witnesses. The judge also directed the AAP chief to appear before the court whenever required and to cooperate with the investigation.
The ED had arrested Kejriwal on March 21, shortly after the Delhi High Court refused to grant him protection from arrest on his petition challenging summonses issued to him.
On May 10, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Kejriwal till June 1 to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections, saying he will have to surrender and go back to jail on June 2.
The trial court had on June 5 denied him interim bail which he sought citing several ailments.
WHAT ED, TEAM KEJRIWAL ARGUED DURING HEARING
During the hearing on Thursday, the ED claimed it had evidence of Arvind Kejriwal demanding Rs 100 crore as kickbacks in the liquor policy case. The central probe agency also alleged that kickbacks received from liquor sellers were used to fund AAP's poll campaign in Goa.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju also said there was a direct money trail of proceeds of crime being transferred from the South Group, of which BRS leader K Kavitha was a part, to the AAP.
ASG Raju also claimed that Kejriwal refused to give the password of his phone during the investigation.
"Kejriwal says my phone is sacrosanct. Mai password nahi dunga. (I will not give my password). We had to resort to the phone of Vinod Chauhan (accused in the case). He is sitting quiet. An adverse inference has to be drawn from the fact that Kejriwal has refused to give his password. This is a ground for refusing bail under ordinary bail law, forget section 45 PMLA for the time being," ASG Raju said.
The ASG claimed that Vinod Chauhan was managing transfers and postings of Delhi government officials.
'ED'S CHARGES NOT BACKED BY PROOF'
Meanwhile, Kejriwal, represented by senior advocate Vikram Chaudhary, claimed that the ED's allegations were not backed by any proof and punched holes into their claims.
He also argued that the AAP supremo had not been named in any chargesheet filed under PMLA.
"Is ED an independent agency or playing in the hands of some political masters? The ED draws all its conclusions based on hypothesis," Chaudhary said.
