Family members welcome Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia after the AAP leaders were discharged in the excise policy case. (ANI)
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday discharged former Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the 2022 excise policy-related corruption case, refusing to take cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Calling the chargesheet deficient, the court said the allegations failed judicial scrutiny and that the purported central conspiratorial role could not be substantiated. It also found no criminal intent on Sisodia’s part. In total, 23 accused were discharged in the case.
The CBI had alleged that a “south lobby” paid Rs 100 crore to influence the scrapped excise policy of the AAP government. The agency filed its first chargesheet in 2022 and later submitted multiple supplementary chargesheets, naming Kejriwal in the fourth one. During arguments, the agency maintained that criminal conspiracy must be viewed in its entirety and that the sufficiency of evidence should be tested at trial. The defence countered that there was no incriminating material directly linking Kejriwal to the alleged conspiracy and argued that he was not named in the initial or earlier supplementary chargesheets.After the court’s decision, AAP leaders described the verdict as a vindication and accused the BJP of misusing investigative agencies to target political opponents.“The BJP was accusing us. Today, the court dismissed all charges and discharged all the accused. We have faith in the Indian judicial system, and I thank the judge very much for doing justice to us. Truth prevailed,” a visibly emotional Kejriwal said while interacting with journalists.“Satyameva Jayate. Today, once again, we feel proud of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s visionary thinking and the Constitution he gave us. Despite every attempt by Prime Minister Modi’s entire party and all agencies to brand us as dishonest, it has now been proven that Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are staunchly honest,” said Manish Sisodia.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann said, “All the institutions are being used to finish off opponents and have become political weapons.”Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh posted, “The court has acquitted our leaders. It has been proven that a dangerous conspirator is ruling the country. Through a conspiracy, he defamed the country’s most popular and honest chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal; the most capable and honest education minister, Manish Sisodia; and the finest and most honest party, the Aam Aadmi Party. Our leaders were subjected to torture in jail. Apologise to the nation, Narendra Modi.”
Former Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj too slammed the BJP. “Just think — both children studied at IIT, and their IITian IRS officer father, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, was left to rot in jail. Shame on the BJP’s dirty mindset,” he posted on X.(With agency inputs)
