Kejriwal, Sisodia, 21 others acquitted in Delhi excise policy case

The Rouse Avenue court on Friday has reportedly acquitted former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ex-deputy Manish Sisodia in the 2022 Delhi excise policy case. Special judge Jitendra Singh pronounced the order in the case investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Breaking down in front of the media, Kejriwal said, “I am not corrupt.”

Besides the two leaders, 21 others were reportedly given a clean chit in the case. They are Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Pillai, Mootha Gautam, Sameer Mahendru, Amandeep Singh Dhall, Arjun Pandey, Butchibabu Gorantla, Rajesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar, Arvind Kumar Singh, Chanpreet Singh, K Kavitha, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Chand Mathur and Sarath Reddy.

Rapping the CBI for lapses in investigation, the Court said that the “voluminous chargesheet” has many lacunae not supported by any witness or statement, said the reports.

The excise policy was framed by the Delhi Government to boost revenue and reform liquor trade in 2021, which was later withdrawn after allegations of irregularities in implementation were made and Lieutenant-Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena ordered a probe by the CBI into the policy.

This policy, which sought to completely privatise liquor trade in the national capital, was used to grant undue advantage to private entities at the cost of the public exchequer, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI claimed. In the case, Sisodia was arrested first on February 26, 2023 and later by the ED on March 9, 2023. According to reports, the FIR stated that Sisodia and others were accused of being instrumental in 'recommending' and 'taking decisions' regarding the 2021-22 excise policy, “without the approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favours to the licensee post tender”. Kejriwal was, meanwhile, formally arrested by CBI on June 26, 2024, while he was in custody of the ED in the money laundering case arising out of the alleged liquor policy scam.