New Delhi: Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva on Friday criticised the AAP celebrations over the judgment of a Delhi Special Court offering a reprieve to Arvind Kejriwal in the “liquor policy scam”, accusing the accused of destroying SIM cards and other evidence.
The court’s decision is based on the technical ground of “lack of evidence” and in no way amounts to a “clean chit” to Kejriwal, said Sachdeva.
He added that the investigating agency has repeatedly maintained that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia were involved in destroying evidence.
Sachdeva said that details regarding SIM cards and mobile phones that were allegedly destroyed have not been provided to date, and this has also been mentioned in the court’s decision.
The Delhi BJP chief said that Kejriwal still does not have answers to many questions.
“If the excise policy was appropriate, why was it withdrawn immediately after the investigation began? What was the objective behind increasing the commission percentage for contractors? Why was a ‘buy one, get one free’ scheme introduced?” asked Sachdeva.
He alleged that Kejriwal is “corrupt” and claimed that there is no proof to establish his innocence.
He also stated that the people of Delhi have already delivered their verdict after the Assembly elections by removing him from power, thereby accepting that Kejriwal is corrupt.
Sachdeva accused Kejriwal of attempting to gain public sympathy by appearing before the media and “acting emotional”, which, he claimed, reflects his political theatrics.
He alleged that it was these same “theatrics” through which Satyendar Jain was portrayed as deserving of the highest honours.
The BJP leader added that the liquor policy issue is not the only matter, and that there is a long list of alleged scams in which Kejriwal, according to him, has clearly been exposed as corrupt.
Earlier in the day, the Rouse Avenue Court discharged Kejriwal and his closest aide Manish Sisodia, along with 23 others in the excise policy case, also clearing them of charges of alleged corruption and wrongdoing, stating that there was “no overarching conspiracy or criminal intent”.
The case pertains to the Delhi Excise Policy, formulated by the AAP government in November 2021, to revamp and bring a structural overhaul of liquor businesses and regulation in the national capital.
Within months of policy rollout, it found itself in the throes of controversy with the BJP accusing the AAP dispensation of colluding with the liquor mafia to fill its coffers. The policy was subsequently scrapped a year later in 2022.
A case was lodged following a report by the then Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Vinai Kumar Saxena in July 2022, which pointed at multiple “procedural lapses and lacunas” in policy formulation.
–IANS
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