A Delhi court on Friday discharged the 23 persons accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the liquor policy case, including Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, Bar and Bench reported.

There was no overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the excise policy, the Rouse Avenue Courts was quoted as saying.

Among the 21 other persons discharged in the case was former Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K Kavitha, Live Law reported.

The court criticised the CBI for implicating Kejriwal and Sisodia without any cogent material. It said that the chargesheet had several gaps not supported by any witnesses or statements, Live Law reported.

The bench said that it will recommend a departmental inquiry against the CBI officials who made a public servant the accused number one in the case.

Kejriwal spent around five months in jail in two separate periods. He was finally released in September 2024 after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the CBI case, having already received interim bail in the ED case. Sisodia was in jail for around 17 months before securing bail.

The CBI will approach the Delhi High Court against the verdict, ANI quoted unidentified agency officials as saying.

Following the ruling, Kejriwal on Friday said that truth had emerged victorious.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah “together planned the biggest political conspiracy to finish” the Aam Aadmi Party, Kejriwal alleged.

“The sitting chief minister was dragged out of his house and put in jail,” he told reporters.

Sisodia said that despite “all the attempts by Modi ji’s entire party and all their agencies to prove us dishonest” it has been proven that he and Kejriwal are “staunchly honest”.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sudhanshu Trivedi said at a press conference on Friday that the court had acquitted Kejriwal due to the lack of evidence, and said that this was a “technical matter”.

“The CBI will take the next step on this case,” he said. “As far as our party is concerned, we will give a structured response after studying the judgement in detail. One must think – if the charges were baseless, then how were the charges framed?”

Kejriwal’s arrest

Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister at the time, had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in March 2024.

In July 2024, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in the case. However, he remained in jail as he had been arrested by the CBI in the same case in June 2024.

He was eventually released from jail in September 2024 after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the case filed by the CBI.

The allegations

The CBI had alleged irregularities in the Delhi government’s liquor excise policy, which has since been scrapped. Based on the CBI case, the Enforcement Directorate also launched an investigation into allegations of money-laundering.

The policy came into effect in November 2021. It was withdrawn in July 2022 with Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommending an investigation into the alleged irregularities of the policy.

The two central agencies have alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government at the time modified the liquor policy by increasing the commission for wholesalers from 5% to 12%. This allegedly facilitated the receipt of bribes from wholesalers who had a substantial market share and turnover.

The party had denied the allegations.

Sisodia, who was the Delhi deputy chief minister at the time, was arrested in February 2023 by the CBI on charges of corruption in connection with the case. A month later, he was arrested by the ED in the same case.

He was granted bail nearly 17 months later in August 2024.