Hours after a Delhi court discharged Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others in the Delhi liquor policy case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court, challenging the special court‘s order against Aam Aadmi Party convener and former Delhi Chief Minister, his former deputy and others, officials said on Friday. Sources said the federal agency has flagged several points that were ignored and not considered at the framing-of-the-charge level by the special court.
“The CBI has decided to appeal in the high court against the judgment of the trial court immediately since several aspects of the investigation have either been ignored or not considered adequately,” a spokesperson of the agency said in a statement earlier in the day.
The special court on Friday discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others in the liquor-policy case by refusing to take cognisance of the CBI chargesheet against them. Among the 21 people given a clean chit in the case is Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha.
Special Judge Jitendra Singh rapped the CBI for lapses in the investigation, saying there was no cogent evidence against Kejriwal and no prima-facie case against Sisodia and the other accused. The CBI has been probing alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s now-scrapped excise policy for the national capital.
What Delhi Court Said In Its Order While Discharging Kejriwal, Others
The CBI has failed to establish a prima-facie case of manipulation against former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, a court said on Friday, while discharging the AAP leader in the excise policy matter.
Special Judge Jitendra Singh took note of the allegation against Kejriwal that he was a “central figure” who manipulated the policy for the benefit of the so-called “South Group” as also for the purpose of “recouping the upfront money”.
“The prosecution seeks to connect Accused 18 (Kejriwal) mainly based on one sentence in the statement of the witness, namely, prosecution witness 225 Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy: ‘Thereafter, he told me that K Kavitha, daughter of K Chandrashekar Rao, the then chief minister of Telangana, would be contacting me in this regard’,” the judge said.
Taking note of the evidence before it, the court, however, said there was no relevant document, file noting, electronic communication, financial transaction or digital evidence to directly or indirectly connect Kejriwal with any alleged policy manipulation or illegal gratification.
“There is no material to show his presence at any conspiratorial meeting or to indicate his knowledge of any unlawful arrangement. The attempt to implicate him rests on an inference drawn from an uncorroborated accomplice-like statement,” it said.
The court said the mere invocation of the expression, “conspiracy”, does not dispense with the requirement of material indicating agreement and participation.
With inputs from PTI
