In the latest development in the Delhi excise policy case, the Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and 21 other accused in connection with a plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The agency has challenged a trial court order that discharged them in the politically sensitive liquor policy case.
The High Court also stayed certain remarks made by the lower court against the CBI and said some of the observations recorded earlier appeared to be “factually incorrect.” While hearing the matter, the bench sought the response of Kejriwal, Sisodia and the other accused on the CBI’s appeal challenging their discharge in the case.
In another significant direction, the High Court said it would pass an order asking the trial court to defer proceedings in the related case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) until the High Court decides on the CBI’s plea. The court scheduled the next hearing for March 16.
Earlier, the CBI had approached the High Court challenging the decision of a special court that discharged former Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia and several others from the case related to the now-scrapped excise policy introduced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
Last week, a special court presided over by Jitendra Singh discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the case. The court said it found no “overarching conspiracy or criminal intent” in the policy and criticised the CBI’s investigation, stating that the agency’s claims did not withstand judicial scrutiny. The court also refused to take cognisance of the CBI’s chargesheet, noting that the alleged conspiracy appeared to be based largely on conjecture.
Among those discharged was K. Kavitha, president of Telangana Jagruthi. The court also granted relief to several other accused, including 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 Chandra Reddy.
The CBI has been investigating alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-withdrawn excise policy of the Delhi government. According to the agency, irregularities were committed during the policy’s rollout, leading to undue benefits for certain private entities.
Following the trial court’s decision granting relief to the accused, Kejriwal described the case against him as the “biggest political conspiracy” in the history of independent India. Reacting to the verdict, he said the court had proved that he, Sisodia and the AAP were “kattar imaandar” (extremely honest).
Kejriwal had spent around six months in jail in connection with the case, while Sisodia remained behind bars for nearly two years during the course of the investigation and legal proceedings.
With the High Court now taking up the CBI’s challenge, the legal battle over the controversial excise policy case is set to continue, with the court expected to examine whether the discharge order passed by the trial court should stand.
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