INDIA’S top court yesterday allowed the release on bail of Arvind Kejriwal, a prominent opposition leader and chief minister of New Delhi, who was arrested nearly six months ago ahead of national elections on charges of receiving bribes from a liquor distributor.

Mr Kejriwal is the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party which governs New Delhi. He is a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr Kejriwal was initially arrested in March, weeks before national elections. He denied the accusations and called them a political conspiracy.

His party is part of a broad alliance of opposition parties called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, which was the main challenger to Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the elections, which concluded in June.

Mr Kejriwal’s arrest was widely condemned by opposition parties as a move by Mr Modi’s government against its opponents. 

They accused the government of misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken its political opponents and pointed to a series of raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures.

The government agencies accused Mr Kejriwal’s party and ministers of accepting 1 billion rupees (£9 million) in bribes from a liquor distributor nearly two years ago in return for revising a liquor sales policy in New Delhi, allowing private companies greater profits.