NEW DELHI: In a significant development, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal received a major reprieve on Friday as the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in the Delhi excise case.The Court noted that Kejriwal had already been incarcerated for over 90 days and acknowledged his status as an elected representative while granting him relief.A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, granted interim bail to Kejriwal and referred his petition challenging his arrest and remand by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise case to a larger bench.During the proceedings, which spanned four days and concluded on May 17, the bench reviewed written records and asked the ED, the investigating agency, to provide evidence supporting the arrest of Kejriwal following the arrest of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.The ED, in response, informed the apex court that it had formally named Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as accused in the Delhi excise policy case, presenting alleged chats between Kejriwal and hawala operators related to proceeds of crime. These purported chats were reportedly recovered after Kejriwal declined to provide his device passwords.”We now have direct chats between Arvind Kejriwal and hawala operators in the case,” said Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED.
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