"PM Modi, Amit Shah hatched conspiracy to finish AAP": Kejriwal after discharge in excise policy case

New Delhi [India], February 27 (ANI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah "hatched the liquor scam conspiracy" against him and other members of his party since they couldn't beat them in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference here, Kejriwal said that the court's judgement proves that he and the AAP are "Kattar imandaar" (brutally honest).
Hailing the court's order, Kejriwal said, "I want to thank the judge. The Judge has shown extreme courage when every institution and authority has been intimidated. The court has to decide whether there is evidence for a case. The court in its 600-page order has said that there is not the slightest evidence to even have a case in this matter."
"Two people, PM Modi and Amit Shah, hatched this conspiracy to finish the Aam Aadmi Party. Today, they should apologise to the country. They knew they couldn't beat us in Delhi. They knew people were happy with AAP, and that's why they hatched this case. I have only earned honesty, not money. I am not like them. Now this has been proved that Kejriwal and AAP are 'Kattar Imandaar' (brutally honest)," the former Delhi CM added.
His remarks come after a Rouse Avenue Court discharged him and others in the Delhi Excise Policy case.
Kejriwal further challenged the Central government, asking to hold the Delhi Assembly election again.
"I challenge Modi ji to hold elections in Delhi again. I can say with confidence that if they get more than 10 seats, I will leave politics," he said.
Kejriwal also targeted Pawan Khera over the latter's remarks, suggesting that this decision was taken to weaken the Congress ahead of the forthcoming Punjab and Gujarat elections.
Questioning how many Congress leaders have gone to jail, the AAP supremo said that the party has "no shame."
"I want to ask the Congress - Kejriwal went to jail. Did Robert Vadra go to jail? Sanjay Singh went to jail. Did Rahul Gandhi go to jail? Sanjay Singh went to jail. Did Sonia Gandhi ji went to jail? What is Congress saying? Does it have no shame?" Kejriwal said.
Holding that the prosecution had failed to disclose "even the threshold of a prima facie suspicion, far less the grave suspicion" required for framing of charges, a Special Court in Delhi discharged all 23 accused in the CBI case relating to the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
In a strongly worded order, Special Judge (PC Act) Jitender Singh of the Rouse Avenue Court ruled that the prosecution's case was "legally infirm, unsustainable, and unfit to proceed any further in law".
The Court observed that when the material collected by the agency was tested on the touchstone of admissibility, relevance and probative value, "the appearance of a coherent conspiracy dissolves," exposing the allegations as being founded on inadmissible material and post-facto reconstruction.
Among those discharged are Arvind Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and 21 others.
The Court was critical of the approach adopted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), particularly its reliance on approver statements. It cautioned that granting a pardon to an accused and then using his testimony to fill gaps in the prosecution's case or rope in additional accused would undermine constitutional safeguards.
The FIR in the case was registered in August 2022 following a complaint by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, alleging that the now-scrapped excise policy was designed to favour select liquor licensees by reducing licence fees and fixing profit margins, resulting in kickbacks and losses to the exchequer. (ANI)