The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of benefiting from illicit funds generated through a criminal conspiracy in the Delhi Excise Policy case. In a supplementary charge sheet, the probe agency claims that Arvind Kejriwal, the national convenor of AAP and Delhi Chief Minister, is responsible for this alleged conspiracy.
The CBI states that their investigation reveals Kejriwal’s involvement in the criminal conspiracy from the very beginning of the Delhi Excise Policy’s formulation and implementation. The Supreme Court will hear Kejriwal’s pleas for bail against his arrest by the CBI in the now-scrapped excise policy case today. He is challenging the Delhi High Court’s decision that upheld his arrest in this case. Kejriwal was arrested by the CBI on June 26th while already in custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a related money laundering case connected to the alleged liquor policy scam.
The CBI’s supplementary charge sheet outlines a pre-conceived plan by Kejriwal to privatize the Excise Policy and secure monetary support for the AAP. The agency alleges that in March 2021, during the policy’s formulation by the Group of Ministers (GoM) led by co-accused Manish Sisodia, Kejriwal sought this financial support.
Furthermore, the CBI claims that Vijay Nair, a close associate of Kejriwal and AAP’s head of Media and Communication, approached stakeholders in the Delhi Excise Business seeking illegal gratification in exchange for favorable adjustments to the Excise Policy. Both Sisodia and Nair are currently out on bail. Kejriwal is the only key political leader currently behind bars in this case.
The CBI has also alleged that the AAP’s statement regarding election expenditure for the Goa Assembly Elections in 2022 is misleading. They claim the statement only accounts for payments made through bank transactions, while significant cash payments to various vendors, Assembly Managers, Booth In-Charges, and Volunteers engaged by AAP during those elections were not reported. The investigation suggests that the illicit funds generated from the criminal conspiracy related to the Delhi Excise Policy were used to cover these unreported election expenses.
