A Delhi court on Friday discharged former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his then-deputy Manish Sisodia in an excise police-related corruption case, refusing to take cognisance of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chargesheet, news agency PTI reported.
A special CBI court, while dismissing the CBI and ED cases in the Delhi liquor policy, questioned the conduct of the two investigating agencies for relying solely on the statements of approvers who had been granted pardons in the cases.
Special Judge (PC Act) Jitendra Singh said the chargesheet had several lacunae, unsupported by evidence, and he discharged 21 more, besides the two Aam Aadmi Party leaders, in the matter.
The court observed that the alleged central conspiratorial role could not be substantiated.
The court noted that the allegations “failed judicial scrutiny” and found “no criminal intent” on the part of Manish Sisodia. It further stated that the conspiracy theory "cannot survive against one constitutional authority."
Political Conspiracy by Modi and Shah: Kejriwal
The CBI has been probing alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the erstwhile AAP government's now-scrapped excise policy. The CBI is likely to challenge the order in the High Court, according to media reports.
“Today, the court has discharged all the accused in this case. We always said that the truth emerges victorious. We have full faith in the Indian legal system. Amit Shah and Modi ji together hatched the biggest political conspiracy to finish AAP, and 5 big leaders of the party were put in jail. The sitting CM was dragged out of his house and put in jail. Kejriwal is not corrupt. I have only earned honesty in my life. Today, the court has said that Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and AAP are honest,” Kejriwal said after the court order.
What was the case?
The Arvind Kejriwal government had implemented the excise policy on 17 November 2021, but scrapped it in September 2022 amid allegations of graft.
The CBI filed its first chargesheet in 2022, followed by multiple supplementary chargesheets. The agency has alleged that ₹100 crore was paid by a "south lobby" to influence the policy in its favour.
In total, 23 accused have been chargesheeted, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, K Kavitha, Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Mootha Goutam, Sameer Mahendru, Amandeep Singh Dhall, Arjun Pandey, Butchibabu Gornatla, Rakesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar, Chanpreet Singh Rayat, Arvind Kumar Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Mathur, and P Sarath Chadra Reddy.
Kejriwal and Sisodia were among those arrested in the case, which the central agency had been probing, alleging corruption in the formulation and execution of the erstwhile-AAP government's now-scrapped excise policy.
Kejriwal, as chief minister, and Sisodia, as deputy chief minister, were arrested in connection with graft charges in the Delhi Excise Police case. Both were later released on bail.
What did the CBI say in court?
During arguments, the CBI maintained that the offence of criminal conspiracy must be viewed in its entirety and that the sufficiency of evidence should be tested during trial. Represented by Additional Solicitor General D P Singh and advocate Manu Mishra, the agency argued that there is adequate material to frame charges against all the accused.
On the other hand, senior advocate N Hariharan, who appeared for Kejriwal, contended that there is no incriminating material linking his client to the alleged conspiracy. He argued that the fourth supplementary chargesheet naming Kejriwal merely repackages earlier allegations and that Kejriwal was performing his official duties as Chief Minister.
Hariharan further submitted that Kejriwal was not named in the initial chargesheet or in three earlier supplementary chargesheets. His name appeared only in the fourth. The defence also questioned the basis of further investigation and the evidentiary value of statements, including that of approver Raghav Magunta.
