A decisive victory for Aam Aadmi Party as Delhi court clears Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia of all charges in the CBI’s Delhi liquor policy case. The February 27 ruling acquits every one of the 23 defendants, exposing glaring holes in the federal probe.
Kejriwal and Sisodia faced the court in person on Friday, amid a tense atmosphere charged with anticipation. Others dialed in remotely. Judge Jitendra Singh’s order pulled no punches, rebuking CBI for building a ‘concocted narrative’ on flimsy grounds.
The bench dissected the chargesheet, finding no corroborative evidence from witnesses or documents to support corruption claims. ‘The excise policy lacked any illicit design,’ it concluded, while flagging procedural errors like unsubmitted confessions and dubious phrases.
Rooted in the 2021 policy shift, the case escalated via a secretariat report to the LG, triggering CBI action. Arrests of Sisodia in 2023 and Kejriwal in 2024 fueled political fireworks, with AAP crying agency overreach.
This acquittal not only restores the leaders’ reputations but also questions the efficacy of parallel ED and CBI pursuits. As AAP celebrates, rivals mull appeals, but for now, the verdict stands as a testament to due process triumphing over haste.