New Delhi: A special CBI court in Delhi Friday discharged former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia along with several others in the Delhi excise policy case.
Special CBI judge Jitendra Singh orally observed that the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation had failed to make a prima facie case against Sisodia, who was the first top Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader to be arrested in the case in February 2023.
With reference to Kejriwal, the judge said he was implicated in the case without cogent material.
Responding to the order, Kejriwal said it established his honesty.
“There were allegations that Kejriwal is corrupt… but Kejriwal is not corrupt. I have earned only honesty in life and today’s court order has established that Kejriwal is a staunchly honest man,” the emotional AAP leader told the media, with Sisodia alongside.
The CBI case was registered in August 2022 on Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena’s recommendation for a probe into the alleged formation of cartels and flow of kickbacks in exchange of contracts for liquor manufacturing and wholesale supply.
Judge Singh Friday discharged all 23 accused in the case, refusing to frame charges against them. The court also pulled up the CBI for a faulty probe and not backing the assertions made in the chargesheet with witnesses and related documentary evidence.
“Kabhi kabhi jab file bahaut zyaada padhte ho, to aapse baat karne lagti hai file (the case file starts talking when you read it several times),” judge Singh said before reading out the discharge order giving the clean chit to the AAP leaders and other accused.
“The prosecution case doesn’t stand scrutiny. The record reflects continuity, and consultation. There is no abrupt interruption to constitute criminal intent. The overarching conspiracy theory fails here. There are internal contradictions in the prosecution’s case,” he remarked.
“The charge of manipulation can’t stand. The policy travelled through established constitutional channels. The structure of the policy doesn’t constitute any offence. The record reflects institutional deliberation,” he added.
The judge also slammed the CBI for not including star witness’s statements in the chargesheet and instead relying on the statements of some accused who turned approvers and were later pardoned in the case. “If such a practice is allowed… rerecording of statements… it sets a wrong precedent,” he remarked.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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