In a latest development, the Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others on CBI plea in excise policy case . The Delhi High Copurt stayed the order on remarks against the CBI. The HC also directed that proceedings in ED case be deferred till the time this plea is decided on March 16. The Delhi HC said it will pass order asking trial court to defer proceedings in ED case. Delhi HC also sought stand of Kejriwal, Sisodia and others on CBI's plea against their discharge in excise policy case.
Observations made by lower court are factually incorrect: Delhi HC
Some of the observations made by the lower court are factually incorrect, the Delhi HC said. AAP MP Sanjay Singh says, "First of all, they didn't get a stay, which is a setback for the CBI. Secondly, we'll gather all the details from our lawyers and then officially state our position. They (CBI) didn't get a stay. The CBI court's decision remains the same. No stay has been imposed on it."
Earlier, the CBI filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court, challenging a special court's order discharging former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and others in the liquor-policy case.
Delhi court discharged Kejriwal, Sisodia and 21 others last week
A Delhi court had last week discharged former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others in the politically charged liquor policy case, pulling up the CBI by saying it found no "overarching conspiracy or criminal intent" in the policy.
Among the 21 people given a clean chit in the case is Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha. Coming down heavily on the CBI, special judge Jitendra Singh refused to take cognisance of the CBI chargesheet against them. It also observed that the federal agency's case did not withstand judicial scrutiny, especially when the CBI sought to construct a narrative of conspiracy on mere conjecture.
CBI has been probing alleged corruption against Kejriwal
The CBI has been probing alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the erstwhile AAP government's now scrapped excise policy. As news came in of the clean chit in the case that helped bring the AAP government down, Kejriwal broke down and said the corruption case against him was the "biggest political conspiracy" in the history of Independent India.
"The court has proved that Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and AAP are 'Kattar Imaandar'," the three-time chief minister said. While Kejriwal was in jail for six months in the case, Sisodia was behind bars for two years.
The probe agency said it would immediately appeal in the Delhi High Court against the trial court judgement. The other accused discharged are Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Mootha Goutam, Sameer Mahendru, Amandeep Singh Dhall, Arjun Pandey, Butchibabu Gornatla, Rakesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar, Chanpreet Singh Rayat, Arvind Kumar Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Mathur, and P Sarath Chadra Reddy.
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CBI says excise policy case biggest scam, calls lower court's acquittal of Kejriwal, Sisodia 'wrong'
