The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court’s order acquitting Arvind Kejriwal and others in the liquor policy case.
The RBI’s challenge comes hours after a Delhi court acquitted all 23 accused, including former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in the Delhi excise policy case.
The agency described the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a “beneficiary” of the alleged ill-gotten gains from the tax policy and held Kejriwal, as its national convener, responsible. However, unlike the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the CBI did not name AAP as an accused in its chargesheet.
After the ruling, the CBI said that key aspects of its investigations were “not adequately considered” or “ignored” in the ruling.
An agency spokesperson said: “The CBI decided to appeal to the Supreme Court against the lower court ruling with immediate effect because many aspects of the investigation were ignored or were not properly considered.”
The dismissal order issued by Special Judge Jitinder Singh of the Ross Avenue Court on Friday came as a setback for the federal agency, as officials involved in the investigation said they had conducted a two-year investigation and collected documentary evidence and data to show that the lobby of alcohol manufacturers and distributors influenced policy.
An officer who did not wish to be named said: “It is a sad day because the court completely ignored the evidence of the Central Bank of Iraq.”
What Arvind Kejriwal said
After getting a clean chit in the tax policy case, Arvind Kejriwal escalated his attack on the BJP leadership, challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call fresh elections in Delhi and alleging a political conspiracy against him and his party.
“I challenge Prime Minister Modi to hold fresh elections in Delhi. If BJP wins more than 10 seats, I will quit politics. PM Modi and Amit Shah should apologize to the country. The court termed the case completely fake and unfit for trial,” he said.
“Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah hatched a conspiracy against us. We are ‘Katar Immandar’,” Kejriwal said.
“The historic ruling passed by the court today. I thank everyone who supported us,” the former Delhi chief minister said at a press conference.
