The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has received the necessary approval to prosecute Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case. The agency has submitted this sanction to the Rouse Avenue court, along with a supplementary charge sheet against Kejriwal.
The legal proceedings have taken several turns recently. The Supreme Court has postponed the hearing of Kejriwal’s bail plea and his challenge to the Delhi High Court’s decision upholding his arrest in the alleged excise policy scam.
The new date for the hearing has been set for September 5. During the proceedings, the bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan granted an additional week for the CBI to file a response to one of the petitions.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the CBI, requested extra time to file an affidavit concerning one of the petitions and noted that the agency had already submitted an affidavit in another related petition.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who is defending Kejriwal, accused the CBI of deliberately timing the filing of its affidavit to hinder its reach to the bench. Singhvi argued that the affidavit was filed late on Thursday night to prevent it from being reviewed in time.
The CBI’s affidavit claimed that Kejriwal is attempting to politicise the case and alleged his involvement in a criminal conspiracy related to the creation and execution of the Delhi excise policy.
The Delhi High Court had previously upheld Kejriwal’s arrest as lawful, stating that the CBI had sufficient evidence and the necessary sanction to proceed with its investigation. The court dismissed Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest, which had followed the CBI’s action after securing the sanction in April 2024.
Kejriwal’s legal troubles began when he was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, 2024. This arrest was part of an investigation into alleged money laundering linked to the now-cancelled Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. Later, on June 26, 2024, the CBI arrested Kejriwal while he was still in ED custody, further complicating his legal situation.
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