Clean chit for Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, K Kavitha in Delhi Liquor case, 23 acquitted
The court had reservedjudgment on February 12 after hearing detailed arguments from the CBI and the defence.
By - Newsmeter Network
New Delhi, Feb 27: 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 have been acquitted in the high-profile Delhi liquor excise policy case.
The special court hearing the case has acquitted all 23 accused in the case. Pertinent to note that besides Ex MLC Kavitha, CA Buchibabu, Ram Chandra Pillai has also acquitted.
The Rouse Avenue Court observed that there was no evidence against the three leaders, granting them a major reprieve.
The court emphasised the importance of a fair investigation to ensure a fair trial, noting that the prosecution had failed to substantiate its allegations. Regarding Sisodia, the court stated that the charges levelled by the CBI lacked merit, no criminal conspiracy could be established, and the prosecution was unable to prove its case.
The court had reservedjudgment on February 12 after hearing detailed arguments from the CBI and the defence.
Alongside Kejriwal and Sisodia, 21 other individuals were also accused in the case. At the time the matter arose, Kejriwal was serving as Delhi Chief Minister and Sisodia as his deputy.
The CBI had filed its first charge sheet in 2022 and subsequently submitted several supplementary charge sheets. The agency had alleged that approximately Rs 100 crore was paid by a “south lobby” to influence the now-cancelled excise policy in its favour.
During arguments, the CBI contended that the alleged offence of criminal conspiracy needed to be assessed as a whole and claimed that there was sufficient material to frame charges against all the accused. However, the court found that the prosecution’s evidence was insufficient to sustain the allegations, resulting in the acquittal of both Kejriwal and Sisodia.
The judgment marks a significant legal relief for the Aam Aadmi Party leaders, ending a high-profile investigation that had been under judicial scrutiny for several years.
The AAP chief was arrested by the ED and the CBI on March 21, 2024, and June 26, 2024, respectively, in the money laundering and corruption cases.
The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the L-G ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution.
23 charged in Delhi Liquor Scam have been acquitted by special court hearing the CBI case
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
CBI Vs. Kuldeep Singh & others Page no. 1 of 549
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
