Bail granted to Kejriwal stayed

In a blow to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed the trial court order granting him bail in the money laundering case arising from the alleged excise scam, holding that the lower court did not "appropriately appreciate" the material placed before it by the Enforcement Directorate.

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A vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said the ED's contentions assailing the bail order required serious consideration.

"The vacation (trial) Judge while passing the Impugned Order did not appropriately appreciate the material/documents submitted on record and pleas taken by ED and the averments/ grounds as raised in the petition under section 439(2) of the Code require serious consideration," it said.

"Accordingly, the present application is allowed and the operation of the impugned order is stayed," the court said.

The trial court, presided over by vacation judge Niyay Bindu, had granted bail to Kejriwal on June 20 and ordered his release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh.

The ED moved the high court the very next day and contended that the trial court's order was "perverse", "one-sided" and "wrong-sided" and it was passed without granting it adequate opportunity to argue the case.