New Delhi : A Delhi court on Friday came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) over its probe into the now-scrapped excise policy, dismantling the agency’s conspiracy theory. In its order discharging all the 23 accused, including former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia, the Rouse Avenue Court said the prosecution narrative was speculative, legally untenable and driven by preconceived assumptions rather than evidence.
The CBI sought to project a coherent narrative, but scrutiny showed facts have been arranged to support a predetermined conclusion. The agency’s theory rested on fragmented circumstances and invited the court to “join the dots” by presumption, which criminal law does not permit. The CBI’s 12 per cent wholesale margin theory was termed “demonstrably erroneous, economically illiterate and legally unsustainable.”
The probe disclosed a calculated and sustained assault on the foundational tenets of the rule of law. The CBI’s methodology risked converting criminal investigation into “an instrument of overreach. Investigators appeared driven by a preconceived assumption that “proceeds of crime” existed. The agency attempted to criminalise ordinary financial transactions without evidence of control, benefit or criminal intent (mens rea).
The CBI conducted what the court called a “self-conducted audit” of election campaign logistics — a domain reserved for the Election Commission. The court recommended departmental proceedings against the investigating officer for framing a public servant without material evidence. It held the case was “wholly unable to survive judicial scrutiny and stands discredited in its entirety.”
