In a significant development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court's decision to discharge all 23 accused in the Delhi excise policy case, including former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha.
Special judge under Prevention of Corruption Act, Jitendra Singh, had earlier on Friday passed the order closing the case initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the accused."There was no overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the excise policy," the Court ruled.
The special court added that the prosecution case did not survive judicial scrutiny, as the CBI had tried to construct a narrative of conspiracy on the basis of mere conjecture. Thus, it concluded that no prima facie case was made out against any of the 23 accused. Earlier during the day, the special court also pulled up the CBI for building its case through approver statements.
"If such conduct is allowed, it would be a grave violation of the Constitutional principles. The conduct where an accused is granted pardon and then made an approver, his statements used to fill the gaps in the investigation/narrative and make additional people accused is wrong," the judge said. The Court further said it will recommend a departmental inquiry against the CBI officials, who made a public servant (Kuldeep Singh) accused number one in the case.
The CBI had charge sheeted the following accused in the case: Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Ramchandra Pillai 6) Mootha Goutam ,Sameer Mahendru, Manish Sisodia, Amandeep Singh Dhall , Arjun Pandey, Butchibabu Gorantla, Rajesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar,Arvind Kumar Singh, Chanpreet Singh Rayat, Kavitha Kalvakuntal, Arvind Kejriwal, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Chand Mathu and Sarath Chandra Reddy.
The case arose in 2022 when the CBI registered a First Information Report (FIR) alleging that the Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22 was manipulated to facilitate monopolisation and cartelisation of liquor trade in Delhi. The CBI case was registered on a complaint made by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on July 20, 2022.
The probe agency said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders received kickbacks from liquor manufacturers due to manipulation of the policy. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also later registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the matter.
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