Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was seen crying on Friday while interacting with the media after getting huge relief from the court in the Delhi tax policy case linked to him. All 23 accused in the CBI case were released by a Delhi court, including Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia.
Shortly after the Ross Avenue court ruling, Kejriwal spoke to reporters and collapsed midway through his speech. “I am not corrupt. Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are,” the court said Katar Imandar (Totally honest),” AAP national coordinator said Sisodia tried to console him.
The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22, which was introduced when the previous AAP-led government was in power in the city, has been at the center of controversy for a long time.
The case filed by the CBI against the policy alleged that it caused financial losses to the state government by reducing license fees and fixing profit margins, and was intended to benefit a few private entities.
The CBI case was filed in August 2022, based on a complaint by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, alleging a conspiracy at the time of formation of the policy.
However, a Delhi court on Friday ruled that there was no overall conspiracy or criminal intent in formulating the tax policy and released all 23 accused, including Kejriwal and Sisodia. The order was pronounced by Special Judge (PC Law) Jitender Singh of Ross Avenue Court.
Conspiracy narrative by the CBI?
As the court awarded all 23 accused in this case, it strongly attacked the CBI for constructing a conspiracy “narrative” based on conjecture and not concrete evidence.
According to news agency ANI, the court criticized the CBI investigation and questioned its reliance on the statements of a person who has now agreed to the case and was previously one of the accused. The judge warned that allowing such behavior would be a serious violation of constitutional principles.
Apart from Kejriwal and Sisodia, the accused are K Kavitha, Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Bowenpally, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Mutha Gautam, Sameer Mahendru, Amandeep Singh Dhal, Arjun Pandey, Puchibabu Gurnatla, Rakesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar, Shanpreet Singh. Rayaat, Arvind Kumar Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Mathur and P Sarath Chadra Reddy are also directed.
