Excise policy case: Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma says will initiate contempt case for allegations on social media

Delhi High Court Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said on Thursday that she will initiate contempt of court proceedings against certain accused in the excise policy case as well as some other persons for making defamatory and vilifying allegations against her on social media.

Justice Sharma did not disclose further details but said she will pass a detailed order on the same at 5 pm today.

Justice Sharma is hearing the plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging a trial court order discharging all 23 accused in the excise policy case including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others.

Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak had earlier sought Justice Sharma's recusal. However, Justice Sharma rejected their application on April 20.

The judge in that order said that a politician cannot be allowed to sow seeds of mistrust and that the application seeking her recusal amounted to putting the judiciary on trial.

The case itself 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 probe agency said that 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.

A trial court on February 27 this year discharged Kejriwal and 22 other accused from the case. The CBI challenged the order and the same is currently being heard by Justice Sharma.

On March 9, Justice Sharma issued notice in the matter and stayed the trial court direction for department proceedings against the CBI officer who investigated the case. Justice Sharma also gave a prima facie finding that some of the observations made by the trial court in its order were erroneous. She further directed the trial court to defer the PMLA proceedings, which are based on the CBI's case.

Kejriwal and other accused -Sisodia, Pathak, Vijay Nair, Arun Pillai and Chanpreet Singh Rayat - subsequently filed applications for Justice Sharma's recusal.

The same was rejected by Justice Sharma, who decided that she would continue hearing the matter. Subsequently, Kejriwal, Sisodia and Pathak decided to boycott the proceedings before Justice Sharma.