Kejriwal walks free after SC grants bail in excise policy case

NT Correspondent, New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walked out of Tihar Jail on Friday, hours after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the CBI case linked to the alleged excise policy scam holding that prolonged incarceration amounts to "unjust deprivation of liberty". The court also held that the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) must dispel the notion of being a "caged parrot", as the bail came as a major relief to the 56-year-old Aam Aadmi Party chief just ahead of the Assembly elections in Haryana and months before in Delhi. It further observed that the arrest of Kejriwal by the CBI was unjustified. Kejriwal , who was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) in the same case and later by the CBI which was probing corruption charges, stepped out after spending 155 days in Tihar jail here.

The AAP supremo, who was earlier granted three-week interim bail in the ED case, was given a resounding welcome by his party leaders and supporters who were drenched in heavy rain. Addressing par t y workers from the sunroof of an SUV, Kejriwal raised 'Inquilab Zindabad' and 'Vande Mataram' slogans. "These anti-national forces that are trying to weaken the nation, divide the nation... I have always fought them and will continue fighting against them," he said, and raised the slogan of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'. "I have struggled a lot in my life and have braved huge difficulties but God has supported me at every step. He has supported me because I was truthful. They put me in jail.

They thought that by putting me in jail, they will break my morale. My resolve has grown 100 times stronger and my strength 100 times," he added. "The thick walls of the jail cannot break me," said Kejriwal, who later held a roadshow. Kejriwal is the third top AAP leader to get bail in the Delhi Excise policy case after former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh.