New Delhi, 16 July (H.S.): The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted a final opportunity to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and Durgesh Pathak to file their replies to the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) petition challenging the trial court's order acquitting 23 accused in the Delhi excise policy case. A Bench headed by Justice Manoj Jain directed that the matter be heard next on August 17 and 18.
No counsel appeared on behalf of any of the accused during Thursday's proceedings due to an ongoing lawyers' strike in the Delhi High Court. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju appeared for the CBI.
The case was earlier listed before the Bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma. However, Kejriwal, Sisodia and Durgesh Pathak had boycotted proceedings before that Bench. Kejriwal had also filed an application seeking Justice Sharma's recusal from hearing the matter.
Justice Sharma rejected the recusal plea. Subsequently, while initiating contempt proceedings against six leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), she referred the main case to another Bench for hearing. The matter was thereafter assigned to the Bench of Justice Manoj Jain, while the contempt proceedings were listed before the Bench of Justice Navin Chawla.
On February 27, the Rouse Avenue Court acquitted all 23 accused in the case. The trial court had observed that the charge sheet contained significant contradictions and noted that the facts presented in the thousands of pages of the charge sheet did not correspond with the statements of witnesses.
The trial court had also noted that Manish Sisodia spent nearly 530 days in judicial custody in connection with the case, while Arvind Kejriwal remained in jail for a total of 156 days over two separate periods. Kejriwal was released on September 13, 2024, after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the CBI case.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
