CBI's 56 questions for Arvind Kejriwal, and a missing file

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday (April 16) was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for over nine hours in the excise policy case. In the same case, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia was arrested on February 26, after which he quit as the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi.

After the marathon questioning, Kejriwal said he was asked 56 questions by the probe agency and that he answered all. "CBI questioning was conducted for 9.5 hours. I answered all the questions. The entire alleged liquor scam is false and bad politics. AAP is 'kattar imaandaar party'. They want to finish AAP but the country's people are with us," Kejriwal said.

The AAP, which has been calling the entire case fabricated, staged protests against Kejriwal being questioned.

Why was Kejriwal summoned?

Arvind Kejriwal was issued summons by the CBI on Friday (April 14) to appear as a witness to answer their questions based on the inputs the investigation team had collected during the probe against deputy Manish Sisodia.

Officials said the CBI asked the chief minister about the (excise) policy formulation process, especially the "untraceable" file, which was earlier slated to be put before the Council of Ministers, reported PTI.

The CBI officials said the agency sought to know Kejriwal's role in formulating the excise policy and his knowledge about the alleged influence being cast by the traders and South lobby members.

Delhi CM was asked 56 questions

Kejriwal said the CBI asked him around 56 questions on the excise policy case."They asked me questions in a friendly and harmonious manner. I answered all the questions asked by them. The CBI asked around 56 questions regarding the excise policy, including when and why the policy was started," he said.

CBI Officials said a file containing opinions of the expert committee and public and legal opinions on the excise policy was not kept before the council and remains untraceable. CM Kejriwal was questioned regarding this.

The agency also quizzed Kejriwal on the statements of other accused, where they have indicated the manner in which policy was allegedly influenced to favour some liquor business people and the South liquor lobby, reported PTI.

"The CM of Delhi was issued a notice under section 160 CrPC for his examination in this case on April 16, 2023, and answering various questions related to the case. He joined the investigation today and his statement has been recorded under section 161 CrPC," a CBI spokesperson said.

What is the excise policy case?

It is alleged that the Delhi government's new excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it. The policy was later scrapped as the national capital went back to the old policy.

The FIR in the case says that Sisodia's "associates" were involved in managing and diverting the funds collected from liquor licensees and that they had collected around Rs 4 to 5 crore, reported India Today.

A total of 15 people, including Sisodia were named in the FIR for criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The FIR was registered after Delhi's Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the case alleging irregularities.

The CBI officials have said there were "deliberate and gross procedural lapses" to provide post-tender "undue benefits to liquor licensees".

Can Kejriwal be arrested?

Even though Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI as a witness in the case and not as an accused, what happens next in the case will only be clear after the Delhi CM's statements have been verified and collated with the available evidence.

Manish Sisodia was arrested in February 26 after nearly eight hours of questioning in the case with officials saying his answers were not satisfactory. And now he has been named key accused in the case and has been in judicial custody for close to two months now.

It is highly unlikely that Kejriwal will be arrested in the excise policy case under the current circumstances, but that can change if it is found that he was aware of or was directly involved in the case.

War of words between AAP and BJP

While Kejriwal was being questioned, several senior AAP leaders were "detained" by the Delhi Police during a sit-in at Archbishop Road against his summoning. The detainees included Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, Delhi ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj, Atishi and Kailash Gahlot.

"The Delhi Police has arrested us for sitting peacefully and is taking us to some unknown place...what kind of dictatorship is this?" Chadha tweeted. "BJP suffers from chronic Kejriwal-phobia," he said.

You can put us in jail but not our revolution 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Fm7pAjIyox

— Raghav Chadha (@raghav_chadha) April 16, 2023

"The AAP is spreading across the entire country. It has become a national party… it is reaching every corner. They want us to vanish but it will not happen," Kejriwal said.

BJP leader Sambit Patra also posed some questions to Kejriwal at the press conference in Bhubaneswar. "The Delhi liquor policy was passed by the cabinet on your instructions at your residence and time and again you have claimed this Delhi excise policy will bring huge benefits to the State's treasury, but instead a loss of Rs 3,000 crore was incurred and you had to withdraw the excise policy," he said.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju alleged that the AAP used activist Anna Hazare to capture power in the name of corruption.