Court pulls up CBI for labelling Kavitha and Co in Liquor scam as ‘South Group’

New Delhi: “Upon an exhaustive and painstaking examination of the entire record, undertaken for over two months, encompassing voluminous documentary material and the depositions of nearly 300 prosecution witnesses, and after affording full opportunity of hearing all the parties, this court is left in no manner of doubt that the prosecution case does not disclose even the threshold of a prima facie suspicion, far less the ‘grave suspicion’ mandated by ‘settled principles of criminal jurisprudence for proceeding further’,” said the order of a special court that acquitted the 23 accused in the Delhi liquor case.

In a significant development, former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and former Telangana Chief Minister KCR’s daughter K Kavitha and 20 others have been acquitted in the high-profile Delhi liquor excise policy case.

No evidence against the three leaders, the court said

The Rouse Avenue Court observed that there was no evidence against the three leaders, granting them a major reprieve.

All the accused from Telangana who were labelled as ‘South Lobby’, which includes Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, M Goutam, Butchibabu Gorantla and Sarath Chandra Reddy, have been acquitted.

Lapses in building the case

The court has rapped the CBI and ED for too many lacunas in the chargesheet and building a case purely on the statement of the accused-turned-approvers.

The court said, “The investigation reflects a fundamental failure to properly appreciate, evaluate or draw lawful inferences from the evidence and documents on record.”

Court pulls up CBI for labelling accused as ‘South Lobby’

The Court observed that usage of the term ‘South Group (Lobby)’, which leads to identity-based labelling, is against Articles 15 and 21 of the Constitution. “Criminal trials must be about what the defendant did, not who the defendant is,” the order observed.

The CBI was questioned why the accused from North India had not been identified as the ‘North Group’ also. “Descriptions of accused persons must remain strictly neutral, evidence-based and free from expressions that carry a stigmatic, divisive or pejorative overtone,” the court said.

Kalvakuntla Kavitha calls the case ‘web of lies’

“Once again, I want to say only one thing: this was a web of lies, and the judiciary has cut right through it. Absolutely, today the truth has prevailed. Truth can be hidden in darkness for a long time, but it can never be defeated. The judgment delivered by the court on the Delhi Liquor Policy case has clearly separated truth from falsehood. The manner in which agencies are being used to suppress opposition parties in this country has been exposed by this outcome. We are deeply thankful to our workers who stood with us during this difficult time, and to our family members, especially my parents-in-law,” she said.

Who are the 23 accused who have been acquitted?

A-1 Kuldeep Singh

A-2 Narender Singh

A-3 Vijay Nair

A-4 Abhishek Boinpally

A-5 Arun Ramchandra Pillai

A-6 Mootha Goutam

A-7 Sameer Mahendru

A-8 Manish Sisodia

A-9 Amandeep Singh Dhall

A-10 Arjun Pandey

A-11 Butchibabu Gorantla

A-12 Rajesh Joshi

A-13 Damodar Prasad Sharma

A-14 Prince Kumar

A-15 Arvind Kumar Singh

A-16 Chanpreet Singh Rayat

A-17 Kavitha Kalvakuntla @ K. Kavitha

A-18 Arvind Kejriwal

A-19 Durgesh Pathak

A-20 Amit Arora

A-21 Vinod Chauhan

A-22 Ashish Chand Mathur

A-23 Sarath Chandra Reddy