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The Delhi High Court on Friday (June 21) put on hold the Rouse Avenue Court order granting bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till it hears the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) plea challenging the relief granted to him in the Delhi excise policy case, the news agency PTI reported. 

The ED in its plea challenged the trial court order before a bench of Justices Sudhir Kumar Jain and Ravinder Dudeja, which said the case file will come before it soon, and till then the trial court order shall not be acted upon.

Pausing the trial court proceedings, the bench said "Stay till the High Court takes up the matter. No proceedings to commence before the trial court (Rouse Avenue) till the Delhi High Court hears the case."

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Kejriwal to remain in jail following ED's plea

As of now, the Delhi chief minister will remain in the Tihar jail. 

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The ED's plea came just hours before Kejriwal was to leave jail. On Thursday, the Rouse Avenue Court ordered Kejriwal's release on a personal bond of ₹1 lakh and imposed certain conditions, including that he will not try to hamper the investigation or influence the witnesses.

The court also instructed Kejriwal to appear before it whenever required and to cooperate with the investigation.

'ED acting with bias against Delhi CM'

On Friday, the Rouse Avenue Court said that the ED failed to give any direct evidence against Kejriwal in the excise policy case. Vacation judge Niyay Bindu of the court while granting the bail observed that ED believed the evidence on record was not sufficient to proceed against the Delhi CM, it was taking time to procure the same in any manner, LiveLaw reported.

“The court has to take a pause to consider this argument which is not a potable submission that investigation is an art because if it is so, then, any person can be implicated and kept behind bars by artistically procuring the material against him after artistically avoiding/withdrawing exculpatory material from the record," the court said.

"This very scenario constrains the court to draw an inference against the investigating agency that it is not acting without bias,” it added and urged the ED to be prompt and fair. 

(With inputs from agencies)