In a major relief for the Aam Aadmi Party leadership, a Delhi court on Friday discharged former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his ex-deputy Manish Sisodia, and 21 others in the politically sensitive liquor policy case, refusing to take cognisance of the CBI chargesheet against them.

Among those cleared is Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha.

Special Judge Jitendra Singh sharply criticised the CBI for investigative lapses, noting there was no cogent evidence against Kejriwal and no prima facie case against Sisodia and the other accused.

The CBI had been probing alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the erstwhile AAP government's now-scrapped excise policy.

Highlighting “some misleading averments,” the judge observed that the voluminous chargesheet contained “several lacunae not corroborated by evidence or witnesses.”

"... The chargesheet suffers from internal contradictions, striking at the root of conspiracy theory," he said.

The court noted that in the absence of evidence, allegations against Kejriwal could not be sustained and that he was implicated without any cogent proof, calling it inconsistent with the rule of law.

Regarding Sisodia, the judge stated there was no material on record showing his involvement, nor was any recovery made from him.

The verdict underscored the absence of an overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the excise policy, adding that the federal agency’s case did not withstand judicial scrutiny, particularly when the CBI sought to construct a conspiracy narrative on “mere conjecture.”

"If such conduct is allowed, it would be a grave violation of the Constitutional principles. The conduct where an accused is granted pardon and then made an approver, his statements used to fill the gaps in the investigation/narrative and make additional people accused is wrong," the court said.

Other accused discharged include Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Mootha Goutam, Sameer Mahendru, Amandeep Singh Dhall, Arjun Pandey, Butchibabu Gornatla, Rakesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar, Chanpreet Singh Rayat, Arvind Kumar Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Mathur, and P Sarath Chadra Reddy.