A Delhi Court on Friday gave a clean chit to former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal and all others accused in the corruption case related to the alleged liquor policy scam. The court came down heavily on the CBI for lapses in investigations and held that the voluminous chargesheet had many loopholes, with charges not finding support through evidence.
The Court rapped the CBI for lapses in investigation and said that the “voluminous chargesheet” has many lacunae with charges not supported by any witness or statement. It held that there was no cogent material and that the CBI failed to make out a prima facie case against Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others while pointing to several misleading averments.
The case dealt a telling blow to the AAP and almost changed its political trajectory. It lost the Delhi elections miserably in 2025 since senior leaders were either in jail or out on bail. People began doubting the “anti-corruption” image of the party, and Kejriwal had to resign in the wake of the charges, making way for Atishi. Years of litigation saw leaders like Sisodia and Sanjay Singh fade into the background.
The alleged liquor scam found an echo in Goa too amid allegations that the “kickbacks” were used to fund AAP’s high-budget election campaign for the 2022 Assembly elections. The Enforcement Directorate and the CBI alleged that around Rs 45 crore were diverted towards Goa for the party campaign.
The case blemished AAP’s spectacular political rise and was seen as a political vendetta against Kejriwal and his team to weaken the party ahead of crucial electoral fights. Targeting Kejriwal’s image of an “anti-corruption crusader” appeared to be a strategic ploy to silence the party.
It is unfortunate that such hollow and unjustified cases have been used to decimate and tarnish the opposition space. It is sad that democracy has been driven to such low levels of mediocrity, where false political narratives and power play reign over ethics. The Centre has been maintaining that agencies like the CBI and ED operate independently and that investigations are strictly evidence-based to combat corruption. What happened to this case?
Reports indicate that there is noticable surge in cases against politicians since 2014, with 95 per cent of those targeted belonging to the Opposition or those who are not aligned with the BJP. Besides Kejriwal, Hemant Soren was also slapped with corruption charges. Another interesting factor, commonly known as “the washing machine effect”, is that tainted leaders come clean when they cross over. Goa, which has been a hotbed of defections, has been a witness to such an effect with Congress leaders jumping over to ressurect their careers and fortunes.
Political accountability must be fixed. The bright side amid this gloom of a sinking democracy is the role of the judiciary, which continues to live up to its reputation as the ultimate arbiter and the “sentinel on the qui vive,” ensuring that neither the executive nor the legislature oversteps its constitutional bounds. Such rulings should serve as a foundation for reinforcing trust in the rule of law, rather than a moment of political victory or defeat.
