Two petitions of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, arrested in the alleged liquor scam, were heard in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Both sides argued for hours on the petitions filed by the Delhi Chief Minister challenging his arrest and seeking bail. During this, CBI lawyer ASG SV Raju also claimed the demand for bribe from a liquor businessman in Punjab.
According to a Bar and Bench report, ASG SV Raju said that there is also a Punjab angle in Delhi’s liquor policy. He claimed that a bribe was demanded from a liquor company named Mahadev in Punjab by taking the name of Delhi. He said, ‘The distillery owner (Mahadev) was told that the problem is in Delhi. He was given this answer when he asked why he could not open the shop.’
The ASG said that the excise officials shut down his distilleries with malafide intentions. When he questioned, he was told that the problem was in Delhi, and he had not paid bribe. As soon as he surrendered, the license was given to restart the distillery. The ASG also said that there are many people in Goa who are involved in this.
In response to this, Kejriwal’s lawyer Singhvi said that this was also mentioned in Manish Sisodia’s case. There was no remote link shown between Sisodia and Mahadev. How can this be shown between Kejriwal and Mahadev? Singhvi called Kejriwal’s arrest wrong and demanded bail. At the same time, the CBI opposed the bail plea saying that Kejriwal should first go to the trial court. The Supreme Court reserved the decision after hearing both the sides. The Aam Aadmi Party chief was arrested by the CBI on June 25, when he was in ED custody. He has got interim bail in the ED case.