A Delhi court discharged Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and 21 others in the Delhi liquor policy case, citing a lack of cogent material, reports said on Friday.
As per reports, the court refused to take cognisance of the CBI’s “voluminous charge sheet” for internal contradictions and recommended an inquiry against the investigation officer.
Special Judge Jitendra Singh discharged all 23 accused persons Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Pillai, Mootha Gautam, Sameer Mahendru, Manish Sisodia, Amandeep Singh Dhall, Arjun Pandey, Butchibabu Gorantla, Rajesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar, Arvind Kumar Singh, Chanpreet Singh, K Kavitha, Arvind Kejriwal, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Chand Mathur and Sarath Reddy in the matter.
Singh sharply criticised the CBI for investigative lapses, noting there was no cogent evidence against Kejriwal and no prima facie case against Sisodia and the other accused.
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The CBI has been probing alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the erstwhile-AAP government’s now-scrapped excise policy.
The Court said that the CBI failed to make out a prima facie case against Sisodia. The Judge added Kejriwal was implicated without any cogent material.
Highlighting “some misleading averments,” the judge observed that the chargesheet contained “several lacunae not corroborated by evidence or witnesses.”
Further, the court has also ordered departmental inquiry against the CBI IO, reports said.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal broke down while addressing the media after appearing before the court today. Asserting that truth wins, he said, “For the past few years, the way BJP has been accusing us in the Delhi excise policy case, today the court has rejected all the allegations levelled against us. We have always said that the truth wins. PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah conspired against AAP and arrested the party’s five biggest leaders. A sitting CM was arrested. We were accused and called corrupt in every channel. Kejriwal is not corrupt. I have only earned honesty. The court has said today that Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and AAP are honest.”
