NEW DELHI: The Delhi court on Thursday extended Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s judicial custody till August 20 in a case registered against him by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) in the excise policy case.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja, overseeing the case, approved the extension after Kejriwal appeared via video conference.
The judge sent Kejriwal to judicial custody in June, saying his name had surfaced as one of the “main conspirators” and the investigation was still in progress. The judge also noted the CBI’s apprehension, which claimed that Kejriwal may influence the witnesses in the case.
The agency charged the CM as “one of the primary conspirators” in the case and alleged that ex-media in-charge of AAP and a close aide of Kejriwal, Vijay Nair, was in touch with liquor traders.
The CBI claimed that the cabinet headed by Kejriwal ex-post facto approved former deputy chief minister Sisodia’s decisions on liquor policy. The agency alleged that the CM enhanced the profit margin of liquor wholesalers from 5 to 12 per cent.
The CBI filed its sixth and final supplementary chargesheet in the Rouse Avenue Court on July 29 in connection with the liquor policy case, naming Kejriwal, AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak, and four others.
On July 30, the Court scheduled August 12 to take cognisance of the supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI.
Though the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Kejriwal in the ED case on July 12, he continues to be lodged in Tihar jail in connection with the CBI case.