NEW DELHI: Hours after the Rouse Avenue Court on Friday dismissed the CBI chargesheet in the Delhi Excise Policy ‘scam’ case, Aam Aadmi Party National Convener Arvind Kejriwal challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call fresh elections in the national capital.
He further said that he will quit politics if the ruling party wins more than 10 seats.
Addressing a press briefing at the party headquarters, the AAP chief slammed the BJP, claiming that they hatched a conspiracy after seeing that the people of Delhi were happy with the party’s work and that it could not be defeated.
“They knew the people of Delhi were happy with our work and that they had no ground to stand on when it came to the politics of performance. So they hatched a conspiracy,” he said.
“The public knows that Kejriwal is honest, so they attacked my honesty. The public knows that the Aam Aadmi Party is honest, so they targeted the party’s integrity,” he added.
He further said that the BJP conspired to finish off AAP by claiming that “Kejriwal is dishonest”.
“They accused me of a liquor scam, of taking money, of siphoning off Rs 100 crore. I have earned nothing in my life except honesty and respect. I have not earned a single illegal penny. I am not like them,” he said, adding that he has earned only honesty, and that is what the BJP wanted to destroy.
The AAP Supremo said that for the past four years, the ED, the CBI and all central agencies were used to level what was called a liquor scam against the party.
“The CBI and the ED filed charge sheets in the case. Today, the court had to decide prima facie whether there was sufficient material, based on evidence and witness statements, to even run a trial. The trial had not begun yet. The court only had to decide whether there was enough material to proceed with a trial,” he said.
He added that in its nearly 600-page order, the court said there was not even an “iota of evidence” or “credible witness statements” to justify putting the case on trial, after examining all the evidence and statements presented before it.
Kejriwal further claimed that the entire conspiracy was jointly hatched by PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
When the judgment was pronounced earlier, an emotional Kejriwal spoke with visible tears in his eyes. He said he had earned nothing but honesty in his public life, calling the entire case fabricated.
He further added that in the end, injustice and wrongdoing are defeated, and truth alone prevails.
Kejriwal said that for the past several years, the BJP had repeatedly levelled allegations of a liquor scam against him and his colleagues, but on Friday, the court rejected all those charges and acquitted every accused in the case.
“We have always said that truth triumphs. We have faith in the Indian judicial system. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the learned judge who delivered justice to us. Truth has won. I have always said that God is with us,” he affirmed.
The Delhi court discharged Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others in the Delhi excise policy case, refusing to take cognisance of the CBI’s chargesheet over lack of evidence and serious gaps in the probe.
The Rouse Avenue Court also ordered a departmental inquiry against the investigating officer, making strong observations on the manner in which the investigation was conducted.
Soon after the ruling, AAP termed the order a decisive setback to the prosecution’s case, asserting that the court had effectively rejected the prosecution’s narrative.
