Excise Policy case: CBI to produce Arvind Kejriwal before trial court today

A day before the Supreme Court's hearing, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday examined and recorded the statement of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in relation to the Excise Policy case.

CBI also got permission for Arvind Kejriwal's production before the concerned trial court. He will be produced before the court today i.e. June 26.

The Delhi High Court had earlier stayed the trial court order granting him bail in the money laundering case arising from the alleged excise scam, holding that the lower court did not "appropriately appreciate" the material placed before it by the Enforcement Directorate. A vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain said the ED's contentions assailing the bail order required serious consideration.


AAP's allegations:
AAP leader Sanjay Singh alleged on Tuesday that the BJP has hatched a conspiracy with CBI officers to frame Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a "fake case".

There was no immediate reaction to the allegation from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"We have learnt from reliable sources that the BJP-led Centre has hatched a conspiracy with CBI officers at a time when there is a huge possibility of Kejriwal getting bail from the Supreme Court. They have planned to frame him in a fake case by the CBI and get him arrested. The entire country is watching the atrocities of the BJP. How will one get justice in such circumstances? People will stand up against this," the Rajya Sabha MP of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said.

Kejriwal's court hearing:
The trial court, presided over by vacation judge Niyay Bindu, had granted bail to Kejriwal on June 20 and ordered his release on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh.

The ED moved the high court the very next day and contended that the trial court's order was "perverse", "one-sided" and "wrong-sided" and it was passed without granting it adequate opportunity to argue the case. The Delhi HC stayed the decision of lower court after the probe agency moved courts.

The Supreme Court on Monday fixed June 26 for hearing his plea against the stay, saying it would like to wait for the pronouncement of the high court order.

The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution.

According to the CBI and ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to the licence holders.

(with agency inputs)