Underscoring “some misleading averments”, Special Judge Jitendra Singh said that the chargesheet had several lacunae not supported by evidence or witnesses, as he discharged 21 more besides the two Aam Aadmi Party leaders in the matter. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been probing alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the erstwhile-AAP government’s now-scrapped excise policy.
Also read: Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia cleared in Delhi excise policy case by Rouse Avenue court
The court rapped the probe agency for lapses in the investigation in the excise policy-related corruption case, saying that there was no cogent evidence against Kejriwal and there was no prima facie case against Sisodia and the other accused.
K Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and a leader from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, was also among the acquitted.
“… The chargesheet suffers from internal contradictions, striking at the root of conspiracy theory,” Singh said.
The court ruled that in the absence of any evidence, the allegations against Kejriwal could not be sustained and that the former chief minister was implicated ‘without any cogent evidence’. This, the judge said, was inconsistent with the rule of law.
Also read: Arvind Kejriwal breaks down after discharge in Delhi excise policy case; watch video
Excise policy case: Manish Sisodia given a clean chit
Regarding Deputy CM Sisodia, the judge said there was no material on record showing his involvement, nor was any recovery made from him.
The Delhi court underlined its finding of the absence of an overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the excise policy while observing that the federal agency’s case did not withstand judicial scrutiny, especially when the CBI sought to construct a narrative of conspiracy onmere conjecture.
“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,” the court said.
The other accused discharged include 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.
(With inputs from PTI)
