Kejriwal to remain in jail as HC grants stay on bail order

New Delhi: Embattled Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will have to remain in jail for now with the Delhi High Court on Friday putting an interim stay on a trial court’s order granting him bail in the money laundering case linked to the alleged excise scam.

The AAP national convenor, who was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), could have walked out of Tihar jail on Friday had the high court not granted the interim relief to the central anti-money laundering agency.

“Till the pronouncement of this order, the operation of the impugned order shall remain stayed,” a vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said and asked the parties to file written submissions by June 24. The high court said it was reserving the order for 2-3 days as it wanted to go through the entire records.

It also issued notice to Kejriwal seeking his response on ED’s plea challenging the trial court’s June 20 order by which he was granted bail. It listed the plea for hearing on July 10. The ED’s lawyer mentioned for an urgent listing its petition challenging the trial court’s bail order which was passed late Thursday evening.