Drenched in rain, senior AAP leaders and workers welcomed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after he left the Tihar Jail in Delhi on Friday evening, having spent over six months behind bars. Hours earlier, the AAP chief had been granted bail by the Supreme Court in the excise policy case. 

Addressing the crowd, which also consisted of his wife, Sunita Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Delhi Minister Atishi and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, among others, Mr Kejriwal said in Hindi, “All of you came out in such large numbers in the rain, I want to thank you all for doing that. My life is devoted to the nation and I have faced a lot of struggles and hardship, but God has been with me because I walked on the path of truth.”

Hitting out at the BJP without naming it, the AAP chief continued, “These people put me in jail and thought that they would be able to break my morale. After I have come out of jail, my morale (‘haunsla’) and strength have gone up 100 times. I will follow the path God has shown me and I will keep serving the nation. I will keep fighting against the forces that are trying to divide the nation.”

As Mr Kejriwal left the jail premises in a car, Mr Mann, Mr Sisodia and others, who were atop a truck, shouted slogans like ‘jail ke taale toot gaye, Kejriwal chhoot gaye’ (the jail locks have been broken, Mr Kejriwal is out). 

The AAP chief had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21 and then by the CBI in June in the Delhi liquor policy case. The Supreme Court had granted him bail in the ED case earlier and did so in the CBI case on Friday, holding that his “prolonged incarceration amounts to unjust deprivation of liberty”. 

Laying down the conditions of his bail, the court said the chief minister cannot go to his office or the Delhi secretariat or sign files without the consent of Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, with whom he and his government have often been at loggerheads. 

‘Timing of Arrest’

While the two-judge bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan agreed on bail for Mr Kejriwal, it differed on whether his arrest by the CBI was illegal. 

“There is no impediment in arresting a person already in custody. We have noted that CBI in their application recorded reasons as to why they deemed (the arrest) necessary. There is no violation of Section 41A (3) of Code of Criminal Procedure,” said Justice Kant.

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, however, noted, “CBI did not feel the need to arrest him (Mr Kejriwal) even though he was interrogated in March 2023 and it was only after his ED arrest was stayed that CBI became active and sought custody of Mr Kejriwal, and felt no need of arrest for over 22 months. Such action by the CBI raises serious questions on the timing of the arrest and such an arrest by CBI was only to frustrate the bail granted in the ED case.”

The judge then said that the CBI needed to dispel the notion of being a caged parrot. 

“CBI must be seen above board and every effort must be made so that arrest is not in a high-handed manner. In a country, perception matters and CBI must dispel the notion of being a caged parrot and must show it is an uncaged parrot. CBI should be like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion,” Justice Bhuyan said.

Liquor Policy Case

Under the excise policy, introduced in November 2021, the Delhi government withdrew from the retail sale of liquor and allowed private licensees to run stores. In July 2022, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar flagged gross violations in the policy and alleged “undue benefits” to liquor licensees. The policy was scrapped in September that year.

The CBI has alleged that liquor companies were involved in framing the excise policy, which would have earned them a 12% profit. It said a liquor lobby dubbed the “South Group” had paid kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore to the AAP, part of which were routed to public servants. The Enforcement Directorate has alleged laundering of the kickbacks.