Delhi court grants bail to Arvind Kejriwal in money laundering case

In a huge relief to embattled Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal a court here on Thursday granted him bail in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise scamSpecial Judge Niyay Bindu also declined the Enforcement Directorates prayer to keep in abeyance the bail order for 48 hours to allow the central agency to avail legal remedies like moving a superior court in appealThe judge ordered Kejriwals release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh but imposed certain conditions before granting him the relief including that he will not try to hamper the investigation or influence the witnessesThe judge also directed Kejriwal to appear before the court whenever required and to cooperate with the investigationThe judge had reserved the order earlier during the day after hearing the Enforcement Directorate ED which sought to link Kejriwal to the alleged proceeds of crime and coaccused and the defence that claimed the prosecution has no evidence to nail the AAP leaderKejriwals lawyers are likely to submit the bail bond before the court tomorrow after which he would be released from Tihar jailOne the other hand the ED is also likely to challenge the bail order before a higher court in the coming daysHowever the grant of regular bail to the AAP national convenor will give his Aam Aadmi Party and its allies a stick to beat the Modi government with as according to Section 45 of the stringent Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA bail can be granted only if the judge is prima facie satisfied that the accused has not committed the offence and that he is unlikely to commit any offence while on bailA detailed order however is awaitedThe 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 himOn 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 Kejriwal had surrendered before Tihar jail authorities on June 2 and has been there since thenThe trial court had on June 5 denied him interim bail which he sought citing several ailmentsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever