Did not blame Manish Sisodia in liquor policy case: CM Kejriwal tells court

New Delhi, June 26 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told a court here on Wednesday that he did not blame any Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, including former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, for alleged irregularities in the framing of the now-scrapped liquor policy.

Addressing the Rouse Avenue Court, CM Kejriwal claimed that the CBI sources were building a false narrative in the media to malign the image of the ruling party in the national Capital and its leaders.

“I have never testified that Manish Sisodia is guilty. Manish Sisodia is innocent, AAP is innocent, I am innocent,” he said.

During the hearing, the CBI’s counsel stressed that custodial interrogation of CM Kejriwal was necessary as he shifted the entire onus on former Deputy CM Sisodia, who handled the liquor portfolio at the relevant time.

Meanwhile, a special court presided over by Vacation Judge Amitabh Rawat reserved its order on the CBI’s application seeking five-day custody of the AAP supremo in the liquor case.

Earlier in the day, CM Kejriwal, who was produced before the Rouse Avenue Court, was formally arrested by the CBI.

Permission was granted to the CBI to produce CM Kejriwal in the special court on Wednesday, after he was questioned by the agency in Tihar Jail.

CM Kejriwal withdrew his plea filed before the Supreme Court challenging the interim stay ordered by the Delhi High Court on his release on bail in the money laundering case linked to the same case.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the AAP supremo, submitted before a Vacation Bench of Justices Manoj Misra and SVN Bhatti that a fresh plea would be moved before the apex court in view of the latest decision of the Delhi High Court staying the trial court order granting bail to CM Kejriwal in the money laundering case.

In its final verdict pronounced on a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that the trial court Vacation Bench did not apply its mind to the entire material and it ought to give equal opportunity to the ED to argue the bail application.

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