E-Paper
CBI challenges Delhi court order acquitting Kejriwal, 22 others, in excise policy case
The agency said that the trial court ignored and inadequately considered several points at the level of framing of charges.
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday approached the Delhi high court challenging a trial court's order, passed earlier in the day, exonerating 23 accused, including former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, in the 2022 Delhi excise policy case.
The trial court earlier this morning discharged the accused, noting that it found no material against the accused persons to support the prosecution’s evidence. Special judge Jitender Singh of Rouse Avenue Court had said that the prosecution’s case suffers from several internal contradictions that strike at the very heart of the conspiracy alleged in the policy.
In its appeal before the high court, the agency said that the trial court ignored and inadequately considered several points at the level of framing of charges.
Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others were facing probe from the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly benefitting private players by formulating the now-scrapped 2021-22 liquor excise policy.
Sisodia was arrested in February 2023 for his alleged role in the conspiracy to introduce the now-scrapped excise policy to benefit private retailers by increasing commission rates from 5% to 12% and was granted bail by the Supreme Court in August last year. Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in March and subsequently by the CBI in June last year; the Supreme Court granted him bail on July 12 last year.
