Delhi Excise Policy Case: From Arvind Kejriwal to K Kavitha – now, all accused out on bail. Full list here

Delhi Excise Policy Case: The Supreme Court on October 25 granted bail to Amandeep Singh Dhall, businessman and director of Brindco Sales Private Limited, in the corruption case linked to the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.

With the latest order, all the accused in the liquor policy case, in which Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and BRS leader K Kavitha, are also accused – have got bail from the court.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order in Dhall case. Dhall, who was arrested in March 2023, had challengeed the Delhi High Court's judgment (June 2024) in which a single judge dismissed his plea for regular bail in the case filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Dhall was earlier granted bail in the money laundering case related to the liquor policy.

The SC bench noted during the hearing on Friday that there are about 300 witnesses who the CBI proposes to examine and the trial was therefore not likely to be concluded soon, according to legal news website, Live Law. Also, the petitioner has been under custody for nearly 1.5 years, the court observed. Hence, the bench opined that his further detention would not serve any purpose.

The Delhi Excise Policy case involves allegations of corruption and irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy by the then Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government. However, the policy encountered vehement opposition and allegations of procedural irregularities. The policy was scrapped in August 2022.

The Enforcement Directorate had arrested 18 persons in connection with the liquor policy case. All of them are out ob bail — regular and interim.

The key accused out on bail?

Arvind Kejriwal: The former Delhi chief minister was granted bail by Supreme Court in September 13. Kejriwal was asked to furnish bail bonds of ₹10 lakh and not to make any public comment on the case and be present on all hearings

Manish Sisodia: Former deputy CM of Delhi, Manish Sisodia was granted bail by the SC on August 9. Sisodia sought bail, citing that he had been detained for 17 months before the court decided in his favor.

K Kavitha: The top court granted bail to K Kavitha, a Member of the Legislative Council for Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the daughter of former Chief Minister of Telangana, K Chandrasekhar Rao in the Delhi Liquor Policy case on August 27. Kavitha spebd five months behind bars. The Supreme Court observed that the trial would take a long time due to the presence of 493 witnesses.

Sanjay Singh: AAP leader and Rajya Sabhe member, Sanjay Singh walked out of Tihar jail after being granted bail by the Supreme Court in April 2024. The ED had arrested Singh on October 4, 2023.

Vijay Nair: The top court granted bail to Vijay Nair, the former media in-charge of the Aam Aadmi Party, in connection with the alleged Delhi excise scam case, on September 2.

Other Accused out of jail

Liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru, regional manager of Pernod Ricard India, Benoy Babu, Chariot Production media director Rajesh Joshi, Punjab liquor baron Gautam Malhotra, Hyderabad businessman Arun Pillai, AAP volunteer Chanpreet Singh, and Vinod Chauhan are other accused who have been released in bail in the case.

Three other persons —Aurobindo Pharma director P Sarath Chandra Reddy, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy’s son Raghav Magunta, and businessman Dinesh Arora— were released after they turned approvers in the case.