Excise policy case: Kejriwal was involved in ‘criminal conspiracy’, says CBI; why no redress, asks AAP

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was “involved in the criminal conspiracy” in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy from the very beginning, the CBI alleged in its latest supplementary chargesheet in the case, while the AAP claimed that the agency had not detected a single rupee of corruption so far.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) concluded its investigation by filing the fifth and final chargesheet in the case, claiming that Kejriwal already had a “preconceived idea to privatise” the excise policy, but it was scrapped after allegations of corruption surfaced.

“He (Kejriwal) demanded financial support for his party AAP in March 2021 when the policy was formulated by the Madhya Pradesh government headed by co-accused Manish Sisodia,” the agency claimed.

“His close aide and AAP Media and Communication In-charge (and) accused Vijay Nair approached various stakeholders of Delhi Customs and demanded illegal rewards from them in lieu of favourable customs policy,” the agency alleged.

The AAP rejected the CBI's allegations.

“So why has not a single penny been recovered so far? Despite interviewing 500 witnesses and producing 50,000 pages of documents, not a single corruption amount could be linked to any AAP leader,” the party said in a statement.

She claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party was an “absolutely honest party” but accused the BJP of making false allegations against its leadership.

Both the Edison University Court of First Instance and the Supreme Court have questioned the CBI's investigation, according to the AAP.

“The ED court has bluntly stated that there is not a single evidence against Arvind Kejriwal ji. The BJP and its agencies are doing everything to extend his arrest despite having no evidence. But in the end, the truth will come out and Arvind Kejriwal will be released soon,” the AAP said.

Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI from Tihar Jail on June 26 while he was being detained there in connection with a money laundering case related to an alleged excise policy scam registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The Supreme Court verdict on his petition against the CBI's arrest is awaited.

In its submissions, the CBI further alleged that Vijay Nair acted as an intermediary for Kejriwal to contact the accused of the ‘South Group’ led by co-accused and BRS leader K Kavitha and obtain Rs 100 crore from them in return for favourable excise policy.

As Prime Minister, Kejriwal was involved in “editing and approving the manipulated excise policy,” it said.

The CBI claimed that Kejriwal's “role in transferring the ill-gotten money to Goa” through two other accused – Vinod Chauhan and Ashish Mathur – through the hawala route came to light.

“Moreover, as the national president of AAP, it was his (Kejriwal's) instructions that the South Group money was diverted to Goa to meet AAP's campaign expenses. He is also responsible for the use of the ill-gotten money during the Goa Legislative Assembly elections as AAP is the ultimate beneficiary of the same,” the agency said.

It said Durgesh Pathak, AAP's Goa president, was also allegedly responsible for receiving and using the ill-gotten money derived from the “criminal conspiracy” related to the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

According to the CBI, of the total Rs 90-100 crore paid by the South Group to tweak the excise policy in its favour, Rs 44.5 crore was transferred in cash to Goa to meet election-related expenses.

Two former MPs from Goa, who contested the assembly elections on AAP tickets, have alleged that they were paid in cash by a party volunteer to meet campaign-related expenses, the CBI has alleged.

It alleges that, by infringing the provisions and contrary to the spirit of the Directive, a cartel was formed between three parties to the Directive in question: spirits producers, wholesalers and retailers.

All the conspirators are said to have played an active role in realizing the illegal objectives of the said “criminal conspiracy.” The agency claims that this resulted in huge losses to the state exchequer and undue financial benefits to the officials and other accused involved in the conspiracy.