New Delhi: On Friday, the Rouse Avenue Court acquitted former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the Delhi Excise Policy case.
The court noted that the alleged central conspiratorial role could not be proven.
The court observed that the allegations “failed judicial scrutiny” and found “no criminal intent” on the part of Manish Sisodia. It further stated that the conspiracy theory “cannot stand against a constitutional authority.”
Expressing her happiness over the verdict, Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Arvind Kejriwal, posted, “No matter how powerful one becomes in this world, one cannot rise above Shiva Shakti. Truth always prevails.”
The CBI had filed its first chargesheet in 2022, followed by multiple supplementary chargesheets. The agency alleged that Rs 100 crore was paid by a “south lobby” to influence the now-scrapped excise policy in its favor.
A total of 23 accused were chargesheeted, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, K Kavitha, 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 Chadra Reddy.
During arguments, the CBI maintained that the offence of criminal conspiracy should be considered as a whole and that the sufficiency of evidence must be tested during trial. Represented by Additional Solicitor General D P Singh and advocate Manu Mishra, the agency argued that there was adequate material to frame charges against all accused.
On the other hand, senior advocate N Hariharan, representing Kejriwal, argued that there was no incriminating material linking his client to the alleged conspiracy. He stated that the fourth supplementary chargesheet naming Kejriwal merely repackaged earlier allegations and that Kejriwal was performing his official duties as Chief Minister.
Hariharan further noted that Kejriwal was not mentioned in the initial chargesheet or in the first three supplementary chargesheets; his name appeared only in the fourth. The defence also questioned the basis for further investigation and challenged the evidentiary value of statements, including that of approver Raghav Magunta. (Agency)
