Following his discharge from an excise policy-related corruption case, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal broke down in front of reporters on Friday, saying that despite trials and tribulations, he had earned “honesty”.
“For the past few years, the way BJP has been accusing us in the Delhi excise policy case, today the court has rejected all the allegations levelled against us. We have always said that the truth wins…,” said Kejriwal to reporters after leaving the court.
The AAP chief said there was a concerted attempt by those in power to end his party, and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah of conspiring against the AAP.
“PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah conspired against AAP and arrested the party’s five biggest leaders. A sitting CM was arrested. We were accused and called corrupt in every channel,” Kejriwal said.
“Kejriwal is not corrupt. I have only earned honesty. The court has said today that Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and AAP are honest,” the AAP chief added, before he broke down, sobbing.
Kejriwal wasn’t the only one who accused the BJP of trying to destroy the AAP.
Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was also discharged along with Kejriwal on Friday, said, “Satyamev Jayate. Today, once again, I feel proud of Baba Saheb Ambedkar Ji’s visionary thinking and the Constitution he crafted. Despite all the attempts by Modi Ji’s entire party and all their agencies to prove us dishonest, today it has been proven that Arvind Kejriwal – Manish Sisodia are staunchly honest.”
‘Failed judicial scrutiny’
The comments by Kejriwal and Sisodia came shortly after the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi discharged the duo in the Delhi excise policy case.
Rejecting the CBI chargesheet in the case, the court observed that the allegations “failed judicial scrutiny” and that there was “no criminal intent” found on the part of Manish Sisodia. As such, it said the alleged central conspiratorial role in the case against Kejriwal and Sisodia could not be substantiated.
The CBI filed its first chargesheet in 2022 and subsequently filed multiple supplementary chargesheets.
The agency had alleged that ₹100 crore was paid by a “south lobby” to influence the now-scrapped excise policy in its favour.
In total, 23 accused were charge-sheeted, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, K Kavitha, 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.
Following Friday’s verdict, the CBI said that it will approach the Delhi High Court to challenge the Rouse Avenue Court judgment discharging Kerjiwal and Sisodia, reported ANI, citing agency sources.
