New Delhi: Naming Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal a conspirator in a corruption case, the CBI on Monday wrapped up its probe in the matter linked to the excise policy scam by filing a supplementary chargesheet against him in a trial court. Hours later, the Delhi high court reserved its order on the AAP chief’s bail application in the CBI case.
Besides Mr Kejriwal, the CBI also named AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak, non-executive director of Aurobindo Pharma P. Sarath Chandra Reddy, director of Buddy Retail Pvt Ltd Amit Arora, alleged hawala operator Vinod Chauhan and businessman Ashish Mathur in the chargesheet.
While challenging the chief minister’s bail plea, CBI counsel D.P. Singh, told the high court that he was the “sutradahar” (kingpin) of the “entire scam” and there was direct evidence to show his involvement. He argued that the trial judge has already given a finding that the arrest was not illegal and thus, the probe agency has passed the stage of legality of arrest in the court.
The CBI earlier filed a chargesheet and four supplementaries in the case in which former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Telangana MLC K. Kavitha and others have also been charged.
In its chargesheet against Ms Kavitha, the CBI said that liquor businessman Magunta Sreenivasalu Reddy (TDP MP) met Mr Kejriwal on March 16, 2021 in his office at the Delhi Secretariat and requested him to provide support in his liquor business in the national capital by tweaking the excise policy 2021-22, which was then in the making.
The CBI alleged Mr Kejriwal assured support to Mr Reddy and asked him to contact Ms Kavitha as she was working with his team on the excise policy. The probe agency alleged Mr Kejriwal in turn allegedly told Mr Reddy to provide funds to the AAP.
The CBI also alleged that kickbacks of about Rs 90-100 crores were paid in advance to some politicians of the ruling AAP in Delhi and other public servants by some persons in the liquor business from South Group through co-accused Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally and Dinesh Arora to tweak the excise policy.
The investigating agency had alleged these kickbacks were found to have been returned to them subsequently out of the profit margins of wholesalers holding L-1 licenses through different modes, like issuance of excess credit notes, bank transfers, and outstanding amounts left in the accounts of the companies controlled, by some conspirators from the South lobby.
The CBI alleged a cartel was formed between three stakeholders of the said policy -- liquor manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers -- by violating provisions and against the spirit of the policy. All the conspirators allegedly played active roles in achieving the illegal objectives of the said criminal conspiracy. The agency alleged that it resulted in huge losses to the exchequer and undue pecuniary benefits to the public servants and other accused involved in the conspiracy.
In the high court, Mr Singh submitted that mere filing of the chargesheet by the CBI against Mr Kejriwal does not entitle him to be released on bail. He said that bail has been denied to co-accused Mr Sisodia and Ms Kavitha even when chargesheet was filed against them.
Mr Singh said: “There are no orders which have released him on bail. Those are just interim orders. First was for elections, and other is that it may be extended or can be reversed by the Constitution Bench. Stay on bail in the ED case still continues. It is an interim release dependent on another circumstance of the Constitution Bench.”
Mr Singh said if the CBI would have confronted Mr Kejriwal earlier, there was a chance of investigation being compromised or witnesses being influenced. “They say CBI arrest is rare… Only a few have been arrested. After his arrest, I got evidence. His own party workers came out to answer. They are not approvers or anything. It was not forthcoming. There is evidence from Punjab, it was not forthcoming but it has come now,” he said.
Senior advocate Abhishek “Manu” Singhvi, who appeared for Mr Kejriwal, reiterated his submission that the chief minister’s arrest in the CBI case was an “insurance arrest” as an afterthought to the interim bail granted to him by the Supreme Court in relation to the ED case.
Mr Singhvi said: “Sutradhar is the word used. The CBI is poetic … The first time the excise policy went into making was on September 4, 2020. There were nine expert committees for one year. These included four departments… After one year, in July 2021, for the first time, the policy is published. At least 50 bureaucrats were involved.”
Mr Singhvi said the policy was not only signed by Mr Kejriwal but also by then lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal, and from that logic, the former L-G and the bureaucrats involved in the process should also be made an accused. “You're trying to catch me by presumptions and hypothesis,” he said.
The court recently reserved orders on Mr Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest and interim bail plea. The chief minister has directly moved the high court seeking bail, without approaching the trial court. He is in judicial custody in the corruption and money laundering cases related to the alleged scam.
Recently, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Mr Kejriwal in the money laundering case, while referring his petition challenging the arrest by the ED to a larger bench.
The CBI examined the chief minister in Tihar Jail. This was hours after the high court stayed his bail in the PMLA case. After the court's permission, the CBI examined Mr Kejriwal in court on June 26 and then formally arrested him in the matter. Mr Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21. In May, he was granted interim bail by the apex court till June 1 in view of the general election. He surrendered at Tihar Jail on June 2.
