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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday applied to the Delhi High Court for bail in the liquor policy case being probed by the CBI. Mr. Kejriwal directly approached the Supreme Court seeking bail. There is no bar in approaching the Supreme Court directly under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to seek bail, lawyers said. In a petition accessed exclusively by India Today, Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the CBI is being constantly harassed under the guise of an ongoing liquor policy probe, which he says is a cause of despair and grave concern. The Prime Minister also claimed that he provided all necessary cooperation and assistance to the CBI in April 2023 when he was summoned for questioning. He claimed that the Prime Minister's arrest was completely unlawful, unconstitutional and untenable, adding: "The arrest warrant is clearly a routine matter and is a violation of the entire arrest and judicial process.""The investigation has already been completed and the material on the basis on which the arrest was made has already been collected. A top investigative agency like the CBI cannot ignore the litigation process. While we ignore all speculations, we remain calm." And "we must act objectively and objectively." Arvind Kejriwal's petition states that you should not be biased or prejudiced in our approach.

The Delhi Chief Minister's plea against his arrest by the CBI and the trial court's order to return his custody to the CBI are also pending in the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the prime minister's lawyer told the Delhi High Court that he would soon file a regular bail application in the liquor fraud corruption case. Meanwhile, the court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to respond to its application challenging his arrest in the embezzlement case. Justice Nina Bansal Krishna issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asking it to file its reply within seven days and listed the matter for hearing on July 17. Besides his arrest, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Conference also ordered him to be remanded to CBI custody for three days on June 26 and 29 respectively and remanded till July 12. Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI from Tihar Jail on June 26 and is in judicial custody in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The excise policy was abolished in 2022 after the Delhi Lieutenant Governor ordered a CBI probe into allegations of irregularities and corruption in its formulation and implementation. According to the CBI and ED report, there were irregularities in the change in excise policy and undue preference was given to license holders.