A top Indian opposition leader has been granted interim bail by the Supreme Court nearly seven weeks after his arrest in a bribery case, according to officials.
India's Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to a top opposition leader who was arrested nearly seven weeks ago in a bribery case that opposition parties called a political move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government against his rivals during a national election. Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, is the chief elected official in the city of New Delhi and one of the country’s most influential politicians of the past decade.
Opposition leaders hailed the court verdict. 'It will be very helpful in the context of the current elections,' said Mamta Banerjee, the top elected official of West Bengal state. However, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, a leader of the ruling party, said the court’s decision did not mean that Kejriwal has been exonerated in the bribery case. He will have to go back to jail on June 2 as pre-trial court proceedings are still taking place.
Kejriwal was arrested by the federal Enforcement Directorate, India’s main financial investigation agency, on March 21. The agency, controlled by Modi’s government, accused Kejriwal’s party and ministers of accepting 1 billion rupees in bribes from liquor contractors nearly two years ago. The arrest triggered days of protests by party activists supported by other opposition parties. Kejriwal, who has remained New Delhi's chief minister, has denied the accusations.
While the federal agency accused Kejriwal of being a key conspirator in the liquor bribery case, the opposition parties said the government was misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken its political opponents. They pointed to a series of raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures.
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