NEW DELHI: An Indian court stopped on Friday the release from jail of one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chief opponents, a day after he was granted bail in a long-running corruption case, reports said.

Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi and the leader of the opposition Aam Aadmi party, denies the charges as a “political conspiracy” by Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He was released from detention to campaign par­tway through India’s weeks-long general elect­ion but returned to jail after voting ended this month.

A trial court ordered his release late Thursday, but before he could walk out of jail on Friday the country’s top economic crimes investigative agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), appealed to the Delhi High Court.

It suspended his release until it could decide on the appeal. The decision could come in “two-three days”, legal news portal Live Law posted on social media platform X.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2024