News of Kejriwal discharge 'moral death sentence' for BJP: Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow, Feb 27 (PTI) Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said the trial court's discharge of former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and others in the excise policy case was a "moral death sentence" for the BJP as it had betrayed the people of Delhi.

Reacting to the development in an X post, Yadav said truth and justice stood firmly with Kejriwal, and that no allegation could be so big that it shrouded the truth.

"Today, every honest person will breathe a sigh of relief, while the BJP supporters must be writhing in deep shame. The BJP has betrayed the residents of Delhi," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

Launching a sharp attack on the saffron party, he remarked that those who level false allegations even against religious leaders and saints could go to any extent to defame a government, party or individual.

Yadav said the news is nothing short of a "moral death sentence" for the BJP.

Earlier in the day, the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi discharged former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and 21 others in the liquor policy case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Special Judge Jitendra Singh refused to take cognisance of the CBI chargesheet, observing that there was no "overarching conspiracy or criminal intent" in the formulation or implementation of the now-scrapped excise policy of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

The court said the chargesheet suffered from internal contradictions and lacked cogent evidence. It found no prima facie case against Sisodia and noted that the allegations against Kejriwal could not be sustained in the absence of evidence, adding that the agency's case did not withstand judicial scrutiny.

Among those discharged was Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha.

Meanwhile, the CBI said it would immediately challenge the trial court's order before the Delhi High Court, claiming that several aspects of the probe have not been adequately considered.

Kejriwal, who was jailed for six months in the case, described the prosecution as the "biggest political conspiracy" in independent India. Sisodia was incarcerated for nearly two years.

Yadav said the verdict has "exposed" what he called was "the BJP's attempts to malign political opponents", asserting that the development has "left the ruling party with no moral ground to stand on." PTI KIS RUK RUK