Delhi Excise policy case: CBI obtains sanction to prosecute CM Arvind Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has obtained the required sanction to prosecute Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi Excise policy case. The agency has recently filed the sanction in the Rouse Avenue court.

CBI has already filed a supplementary charge sheet against him. Kejriwal was arrested on June 26 and since then he is in judicial custody till August 27. The court is to consider the supplementary charge on August 27.

The sanction was required to prosecute Kejriwal. On August 20, the Rouse Avenue Court extended Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's judicial custody in the CBI case until August 27, 2024.

The Special Judge Kaveri Baweja is also scheduled to consider the ED's supplementary chargesheet filed against Kejriwal and others on same day.

Meanwhile, The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned for September 5 the hearing of the pleas of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking bail and challenging the Delhi High Court order upholding his arrest by the CBI in a corruption case stemming from the alleged excise policy scam.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan posted the matter on September 5 for hearing and granted one-week further time to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a reply in one of the pleas.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju appearing for CBI sought time to file an affidavit in one of the petitions and submitted that the agency has filed an affidavit in the other petition.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi representing Kejriwal told the bench that the affidavit was filed on Thursday night at 8 pm with a deliberate design that the same wouldn't reach the bench.

The affidavit filed by the CBI in one of the petitions stated that Kejriwal is politically sensationalising the case and he has been involved in the criminal conspiracy in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi excise policy.

On August 5, the Delhi High Court upheld the arrest of the Chief Minister as "legal". It had dismissed Kejriwal's plea challenging his arrest, saying it was only after sufficient evidence was collected and sanction was obtained in April 2024 that the CBI proceeded with further probe against him.

The High Court had said there was no malice in the acts of the CBI which demonstrated how Kejriwal could influence witnesses who could muster the courage to depose only after his arrest.

It had said Kejriwal is not an ordinary citizen but a distinguished recipient of the Magsaysay Award and the convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party.

"The control and the influence which he has on the witnesses is prima facie borne out from the fact that these witnesses could muster the courage to be a witness only after the arrest of the petitioner, as highlighted by the special prosecutor," it had said in its order.

Kejriwal was arrested by ED on March 21, 2024 in connection with a money laundering probe relating to alleged irregularities in the now-cancelled Delhi excise policy 2021-22. On June 26, 2024, AAP Chief was arrested by CBI while he was in custody of the Enforcement Directorate in the case.