Delhi liquor policy; CBI files charge sheet against Arvind Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: CBI filed a charge sheet against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Rose Avenue court in connection with a money laundering case related to the liquor policy. Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also filed a charge sheet in the liquor case last May.

In the CBI charge sheet, Kejriwal is named as one of the main masterminds of the liquor policy. Aam Aadmi Party media chief Vijay Nair, a close aide of Kejriwal, had connections with liquor manufacturers and traders. The charge sheet also states that Kejriwal gave prior approval to former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's liquor policy decisions. Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the ED on March 21 in a money laundering case related to the liquor policy. The Supreme Court granted him interim bail but the CBI arrested him in the same case.

Arvind Kejriwal has alleged in the Delhi High Court that the CBI arrest in the liquor case is to put him in jail. CBI recorded the 'insurance' arrest as if it was a precaution to eliminate the situation of getting out on interim bail in the ED case. Even if Kejriwal is granted bail, there is no possibility of going abroad. Evidence is not going to be destroyed. Kejriwal's lawyer Abhishek Singhvi told the court that he would cooperate with the investigation but CBI's lawyer DP Singh denied the allegations. CBI explained that it decided to register the arrest after evaluating Kejriwal's statement.