Excise Policy case: Delhi Court closes CBI case against all 23 accused including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia

A Delhi court on Friday discharged 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 (PC Act) Jitendra Singh 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 Court added that the prosecution case does 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.

The 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 that 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,

1) Kuldeep Singh 

2) Narender Singh

3) Vijay Nair

4) Abhishek Boinpally 

5) Arun Ramchandra Pillai 

6) Mootha Goutam 

7) Sameer Mahendru 

8) Manish Sisodia 

9) Amandeep Singh Dhall

10) Arjun Pandey

11) Butchibabu Gorantla

12) Rajesh Joshi

13) Damodar Prasad Sharma

14) Prince Kumar

15) Arvind Kumar Singh

16) Chanpreet Singh Rayat

17) Kavitha Kalvakuntal @ K.Kavitha

18) Arvind Kejriwal

19) Durgesh Pathak

20) Amit Arora

21) Vinod Chauhan

22) Ashish Chand Mathur

23) 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 that 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.

What followed was a series of arrests of opposition leaders, criticised by some quarters as being politically motivated.

It was alleged that a criminal conspiracy was hatched by AAP leaders, including Sisodia and Kejriwal and other unidentified and unnamed private persons/entities at the stage of the policy’s formulation.

The conspiracy, it was alleged, involved loopholes “intentionally” left or created in the policy. These loopholes were allegedly meant to favour some liquor licensees and conspirators post the tender process, it was claimed.

The political leaders spent a considerable time in jail as the Rouse Avenue Court and the Delhi High Court denied them bail. It was the Supreme Court which later granted them relief.