AAP's Saurabh Bharadwaj Questions BJP Over ‘Prior Knowledge’ of Verdict in Delhi Excise Case

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday questioned statements by BJP leaders suggesting that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders would eventually be punished in the alleged excise policy case, even though a lower court has discharged them in the case. AAP's Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj asked how BJP Delhi President Virendra Sachdeva and Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra appear to already know what verdict will come in the excise case.

Referring to Kapil Mishra's remark that "the picture is still remaining" (the picture is still remaining), the AAP Delhi State Chief asked how they could predict the outcome when the matter is yet to be heard in the High Court, and whether they were suggesting that a judgment could be delivered according to their wishes.

Addressing a press conference at the AAP headquarters on Tuesday, AAP Delhi Unit Chief Suarabh Bharadwaj launched a sharp attack on the claims made by BJP's Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva. Showing a video of Virendra Sachdeva, he said that Virendra Sachdeva is claiming that Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Durgesh Pathak are criminals and that as the court proceedings move forward, they will certainly be punished, and that he already knows the outcome.

"Another minister in the BJP government, Kapil Mishra, tweeted on Monday that 'picture abhi baaki hai'. When the BJP's Delhi president Virendra Sachdeva is saying that punishment is certain, and Kapil Mishra is saying that 'picture abhi baaki hai', then how do they know what is going to happen next?," Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned

The AAP Delhi State Chief further asked how Kapil Mishra knows what is still left in the "picture." "Even the High Court judge themselves would not yet know this. Only when the judge reads the case will they know. How can Virendra Sachdeva say with certainty that punishment will be delivered?," he asked

"Are they directly trying to say that they know what will happen in this case? How do they know what the next part of the story is? How can they say this? The matter is currently before High Court judge Swarana Kanta Sharma," he highlighted.

Saurabh Bharadwaj asked whether they were suggesting that any verdict they wanted would be delivered by Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma. "These questions become serious because this is the same Kapil Mishra who openly threatened and attempted to incite violence ahead of the Delhi riots, and the video of that is publicly available," he said.

"This pertains to February 2020, and at that time, on 26 February 2020, Delhi High Court judge Justice Muralidhar had strongly reprimanded the Delhi Police and the central government in his court," he noted.

The senior AAP leader added that Justice Muralidhar had directed that an FIR be registered against Kapil Mishra and Anurag Thakur in connection with hate speech. "He had fixed 27 February as the date for the hearing. However, at 11:00 pm on the night of 26 February, the Union government's Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification transferring Justice Muralidhar," Saurabh Bharadwaj explained.

"Government ministers' offices are not open at 11:00 pm and employees have already gone home, yet his transfer was carried out so that he could not hear the case the next day. After that, the bench of judges was changed and the matter went to Justice D.N. Patel, who granted four weeks' time in the case," he added.

Saurabh Bharadwaj said Kapil Mishra's remark that "picture abhi baaki hai" raises serious questions. "Do they already know what Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma will do? What relationship does Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma have with the BJP? How can Virendra Sachdeva and Kapil Mishra claim to know what the next part of the story will be?" he strongly questioned.