Delhi court extends Kejriwal’s custody till Sept 25, grants bail to AAP MLA Pathak

A Delhi court on Wednesday extended till September 25 the judicial custody of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the case lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of alleged irregularities in the formation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.
Meanwhile, the Rouse Avenue court granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Durgesh Pathak in the case. Special judge Kaveri Baweja granted bail to Pathak, who was present before the court in response to the summons issued on September 3, on a bail bond of ₹1 lakh.
Kejriwal appeared before the court through video conference from Tihar jail. He and Pathak, along with four other people — Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Mathur and P Sarath Reddy — were named in CBI’s fourth supplementary charge sheet filed in the case on July 30. However, apart from Kejriwal, the remaining five accused were chargesheeted without arrest.
CBI in the chargesheet alleged that Kejriwal was one of the main conspirators in the case and had been in touch with the “South Group”, which comprised K Kavitha, Raghav Magunta, Arun Pillai, Butchibabu Gorantla, Reddy, Abhishek Boinpally and Benoy Babu. The Delhi CM allegedly received kickbacks from this group in lieu of liquor licences in the Capital, Delhi, and part of it was spent on the AAP’s campaign for Goa assembly elections 2022.
According to CBI, Pathak was the in-charge of the assembly elections and the kickback money for the same was spent on his instructions. It also said that all the election-related expenses incurred were dealt with in cash. The agency also submitted that Kejriwal had promised ₹90 lakhs to each candidate in the 40 constituencies in Goa.
On the role of Vijay Nair, the then media in-charge of the AAP, CBI said he was appointed by Kejriwal and was conducting meetings and demanding undue gratifications in exchange for favourable provisions in the excise policy.
Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy had met Kejriwal in Delhi requesting him to provide support in the liquor business in Delhi. It has been alleged by CBI that in the meeting, Kejriwal had asked him to provide monetary funding to the AAP.
CBI has also claimed that Chauhan and Mathur were involved in the transfer of the money and the former Chauhan was coordinating with Kavitha’s personal assistant. The agency has alleged that Arora was responsible for pressurising the officials of Mahadev liquors to shut in Delhi.
The agency further alleged that accused-turned-approver P Sarath Reddy gave ₹14 crore to Kavitha under the guise of a land deal. It was also pointed out that he obtained five liquor vends in Delhi.
Kejriwal was first arrested in another excise policy case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate on March 21. He was later taken into custody by CBI too in the case on June 26 and was sent to judicial custody on June 29. The Supreme Court, however, granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the ED case on July 12, but he is still in jail in the CBI case.
The case stems from the Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy that aimed to revitalise the city’s flagging liquor business. It aimed to replace a sales volume-based regime with a licence fee one for traders, and promised swankier stores, free of the infamous metal grilles, ultimately giving customers a better buying experience. The policy also introduced discounts and offers on the purchase of liquor, a first for Delhi.
The plan, however, ended abruptly, with Delhi’s lieutenant governor VK Saxena recommending a probe into alleged irregularities in the regime. This ultimately resulted in the policy being scrapped prematurely and being replaced by the 2020-21 regime, with the AAP alleging that Saxena’s predecessor sabotaged the move with a few last-minute changes that resulted in lower-than-expected revenues.