New Delhi, February 27: The Central Bureau of Investigation will approach the Delhi High Court, challenging the Rouse Avenue Court judgment discharging Aam Admi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the Delhi Excise policy case, sources in the probe agency said on Friday.
The move comes after the Rouse Avenue court observed that the alleged central conspiratorial role of the AAP leaders could not be substantiated. The court noted that the allegations "failed judicial scrutiny" and found "no criminal intent" on the part of Manish Sisodia. It further stated that the conspiracy theory "cannot survive against one constitutional authority."
The CBI filed its first chargesheet in 2022, followed by multiple supplementary chargesheets. The agency has alleged that Rs 100 crore was paid by a "south lobby" to influence the now-scrapped excise policy in its favour.
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.
During arguments, the CBI maintained that the offence of criminal conspiracy must be viewed in its entirety and that the sufficiency of evidence should be tested during trial. Represented by Additional Solicitor General D P Singh and advocate Manu Mishra, the agency argued that there is adequate material to frame charges against all the accused.
Following his discharge by Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi Excise Policy case, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Friday broke down outside the court as he emphasised that he was not corrupt, adding that the court had said that both he and Manish Sisodia were "honest".
Speaking to reporters, Kejriwal also accused PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of hatching the biggest political conspiracy of independent India. He also alleged that the BJP planned to finish the Aam Aadmi Party by putting its top five leaders while asserting that he has always said that the "truth emerges victorious."
"I am not corrupt. The court has said that Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are honest. Today, the court has discharged all the accused in this case. We always said that the truth emerges victorious. We have full faith in the Indian legal system. Amit Shah and Modi ji together hatched the biggest political conspiracy to finish AAP," he said. (ANI)
