Delhi High Court reserves order on Arvind Kejriwal’s bail plea, CBI calls him ‘mastermind’ of excise policy scam

The CBI’s counsel D P Singh, arguing before the court of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, submitted, “Within one month (of Kejriwal’s arrest), we filed a chargesheet. It means our investigation was at such an advanced stage. The amount of evidence that has come in the last one month is of that nature…for lack of better words, he is the ‘sutradhaar’ (mastermind) of the entire excise scam.”

To this effect, Singh submitted that CrPC Section 164 statements could be recorded only after Kejriwal’s arrest and that officers from Punjab would not have given their statement in relation to the case without the arrest.

Meanwhile, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing on behalf of Kejriwal, said the chief minister’s arrest is an “insurance arrest” and termed the CBI’s labelling of him as ‘sutradhaar’ as “poetic”.

Singhvi said the initial drafting of the excise policy in September 2020 required the input of nine expert committees. When the policy was eventually published in July 2021, it involved the efforts of several bureaucrats, he said. Singhvi also said the policy was signed by the former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi as well as Kejriwal.

Meanwhile, Singh countered that officers who were involved in the policy framing, too, had given their statements in the case.

Kejriwal was arrested in June by the CBI in the case of alleged corruption linked to the excise policy.