CBI files chargesheet against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal linked to excise policy case

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) files chargesheet against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and others in Rouse Avenue Court, Delhi in connection with Excise policy case.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's judicial custody in the excise policy ended on July 25, after the Rouse Avenue court extended his detention earlier.

The CBI arrested Kejriwal for a corruption case under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) in relation to Delhi excise policy. The Delhi excise policy under which the Chief Minister is arrested is now scrapped.

The CBI charged the Delhi Chief Minister as ‘one of the primary conspirators’ in the excise policy case. The agency said that the ex-media in-charge of AAP and a close associate of Kejriwal, Vijay Nair, was in touch with several liquor producers and traders.

In the Delhi court, the investigating agency claimed that Vijay Nair had allegedly demanded undue gratification for incorporating provisions beneficial to the AAP in the excise policy since March 2021.

The investigating agency also alleged that ₹44.45 crore was transferred through ‘hawala channels' to Goa from June 2021 to January 2022. These funds were used in AAP's assembly poll campaign. This was among the ₹100 crore bribes received by AAP, CBI stated in its previous chargesheet.

On March 21, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by Enforcement Directorate in the scrapped Delhi liquor policy scam case after raids at his residence. An 11-member ED team reached Kejriwal's residence taking along a search warrant in the Delhi excise policy money laundering case and raided his residence.

The Supreme Court on July 12 granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the ED probed money laundering case linked to the alleged Delhi Liquor Policy Case. The CBI arrested Kejriwal on June 26 from Tihar Jail while he was in judicial custody under the money laundering case registered by ED.