Delhi excise policy case: SC to deliver verdict on CM Arvind Kejriwal's bail plea today

The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver on Friday its verdict on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's petitions seeking bail and challenging his arrest by the CBI in the excise policy 'scam'. As per the cause list of September 13 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench headed by Justice Surya Kant is slated to pronounce the verdict.

The bench, also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, had on September 5 reserved its verdict on the pleas. CM Kejriwal has filed two separate petitions challenging the denial of bail and against his arrest by the CBI in the corruption case filed by the central agency.

The AAP chief was arrested by CBI on June 26. He has challenged in the apex court the Delhi High Court's August 5 order which upheld his arrest in the corruption case. The high court had noted that the loop of evidence against Kejriwal got closed after collection of relevant evidence following his arrest by the CBI and it cannot be said that it was without any justifiable reason or illegal. The high court had also granted him liberty to approach a trial court with his plea seeking bail in the case.

READ | UPSC fake certificate row: Delhi HC now asks ex-trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar to...

The matter relates to alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which has now been scrapped. The ED has also lodged a separate money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy 'scam'.

According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to licence holders. On July 12, the apex court had granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the money laundering case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)