Delhi Court Acquits Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia in Delhi Excise Policy Case

The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Friday cleared former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia of charges in the 2022 Delhi excise policy case, bringing relief in a matter that had been investigated for years by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and closely tracked across political and legal circles.

Special judge Jitendra Singh delivered the order after hearing detailed arguments from the prosecution and defence. The court had reserved its decision on 12 February following extended submissions in which the CBI sought to press conspiracy charges while the accused challenged the evidence placed on record.

Timeline of the Case

When the case was registered in 2022, Kejriwal was serving as chief minister and Sisodia as deputy chief minister, and their roles in framing the now-scrapped liquor policy became central to the investigation. The CBI filed its first chargesheet the same year and later submitted multiple supplementary chargesheets as the probe expanded.

The agency alleged that a "south lobby" had paid ₹100 crore to secure benefits under the excise policy. This allegation formed the backbone of the wider conspiracy claims and led to the naming of several political and business figures over time.

List of Accused

Across the chargesheets, the CBI named 23 accused in the case. The list included:

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

P Sarath Chandra Reddy

The agency maintained that statements, financial transactions and policy changes formed a connected chain pointing to unlawful gain.

CBI's Stand in Court

During hearings, the prosecution argued that the alleged conspiracy should be assessed as a whole rather than by isolating individual acts. Additional Solicitor General D.P. Singh and advocate Manu Mishra submitted that there was sufficient material to frame charges and that the evidence should be tested during a full trial.

According to the CBI, the financial trail and the restructuring of the excise policy were interlinked and justified proceeding against the accused, including Kejriwal and Sisodia.

Defence Arguments

Senior advocate N. Hariharan, representing Kejriwal, argued that there was no incriminating material linking him directly to the alleged conspiracy. He pointed out that Kejriwal's name did not appear in the initial chargesheet or in the first three supplementary chargesheets filed by the CBI.

The defence contended that Kejriwal was introduced only in the fourth supplementary chargesheet and that it largely repeated earlier allegations without adding new substantive evidence. It also questioned the reliance placed on statements, including that of approver Raghav Magunta, and maintained that the decisions cited were taken in the discharge of official duties as chief minister.

Court's Decision and What Lies Ahead

With the Rouse Avenue Court now acquitting Kejriwal and Sisodia, the detailed reasoning in the order is expected to be closely examined by legal experts. The ruling marks a key moment in a case that saw multiple arrests, political confrontations and parallel proceedings over the past two years.

While the CBI had argued that its evidence warranted a full trial, the court has now concluded otherwise in respect of Kejriwal and Sisodia. The wider implications for the remaining accused and for the political narrative surrounding the excise policy will unfold as the case moves forward.