'I am not corrupt': Arvind Kejriwal breaks down after Delhi court discharges all excise policy case accused

New Delhi: The Rouse Avenue court on Friday discharged former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the Delhi excise policy case, with the court ruling that the CBI failed to prove the charges against them.

The court has discharged all 23 accused persons, including K. Kavitha, daughter of former Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.

What did the court say?

Special Judge Jitendra Singh after pronouncing the order in the case investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said that serious criminal allegations must be backed by substantive material, not inference or narrative.

"Serious allegations must be supported by material evidence. The attribution of a central conspiratorial role cannot be sustained on the record," the court said.

"Public confidence in high office is affected if prosecution allegations are found to be unsupported by material," it added.

"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," it added.

What did Kejriwal say after the order?

While briefing the media, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal broke down emotionally after being discharged in the Delhi Excise policy case by Rouse Avenue Court.

"I am not corrupt. The court has said that Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are honest, he said.

"We always used to say that truth prevails. I am very thankful to the judge who delivered justice to us. Truth has won," Kejriwal said.

Former Delhi Chief Minister described the case as the “biggest political conspiracy in independent India,” alleging that it was designed to “finish off the Aam Aadmi Party by putting its five biggest leaders in jail.”

“The sitting Chief Minister was dragged from his house and put in jail, where he remained for six months. Our Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia ji was kept in jail for almost two years. It was a completely fake case. Mud was thrown at us. TV channels ran debates 24 hours a day. News was shown portraying Kejriwal in a negative light. I want to tell the Prime Minister, for the sake of power, do not play with the country and the Constitution in this way,” Kejriwal said.

“Don’t play games. If you want power, do good work. There are so many problems across the country. Solve them and then come to power,” he added.

What is the case?

Arvind Kejriwal and  Manish Sisodia, along with 21 others, were chargesheeted in an alleged Rs 100 crore paid by a "south lobby" to influence the now-scrapped excise policy in its favour.

The Delhi Excise Policy case arose from allegations of corruption linked to the Delhi government's now-scrapped 2021-22 excise (liquor) policy. The CBI argued that the policy, implemented by the Kejriwal government, favoured select private firms through decreased fees and a fixed margin, allegedly generating kickbacks.

The case was registered on a complaint made by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on July 20, 2022.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, and by the ED on March 9, 2023, while Kejriwal was arrested on March 21, 2024, on money-laundering charges.

In total, 23 accused have been 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.