India's Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a corruption case, but he will remain in jail following his arrest in a separate case.
Kejriwal was arrested in March by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), India's financial crimes enforcement agency, for alleged corruption in the city's liquor vending policy.
Kejriwal, 55, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a former anti-corruption activist, denies any wrongdoing and calls the case politically motivated.
His lawyers challenged his arrest in the high court, which referred the matter to a larger bench and granted him temporary relief.
“Since the right to life and liberty is sacrosanct and Arvind Kejriwal has been incarcerated for more than 90 days… we order that Arvind Kejriwal be released on interim bail,” Judge Sanjiv Khanna said.
However, Kejriwal remains in custody following his arrest last month by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's federal police, in a separate corruption case related to Delhi's liquor policy.
His lawyer, Vivek Jain, told the Indian news agency ME TOO who will seek bail in the CBI case in the Delhi High Court on July 17.
Kejriwal's decade-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has risen rapidly in mainstream politics, coming to power in Delhi and the northern state of Punjab, but its influence is still relatively minor compared to older parties.
The high court had earlier granted him temporary bail for three weeks until June 2 to campaign in the national elections.
