Excise policy ‘scam’: chargesheet a ‘cut-and-paste’ of earlier filings, says Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told a Delhi court on Saturday that the chargesheet filed against him in the excise policy “scam” was a “duplication of earlier chargesheets”.

The court was hearing arguments on the framing of charges against the AAP chief.

Mr. Kejriwal’s counsel told a special CBI court that the Central agency did not find any incriminating material against him, pointing out that the former CM was neither named in the first chargesheet nor in the three supplementary chargesheets filed subsequently. The court will hear the matter next on February 7

The case stems from a complaint lodged by Delhi Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena who alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of Delhi in 2020. Mr. Kejriwal was accused of modifying the excise policy in a manner in which undue favours were extended to licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval. The beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of accounts to evade detection.

The ED had later booked the accused persons, including Mr. Kejriwal, for money laundering.