Chennai

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Centre after a Delhi court discharged AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the Delhi excise policy case.

In a post on X, Stalin accused the Union government of “mortgaging the integrity” of investigating agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to carry out what he termed “political hunting” against opposition leaders.

“The Union BJP government must not mortgage the integrity of investigating agencies for short-term politics. Have some shame,” Stalin wrote, congratulating Kejriwal and Sisodia for “standing firm” and allowing the truth to prevail.

The Rouse Avenue Court on Friday discharged Kejriwal and Sisodia, observing that the alleged central conspiratorial role could not be substantiated. The court said the allegations failed judicial scrutiny and found no criminal intent on Sisodia’s part, adding that the conspiracy theory could not survive against a constitutional authority.

Reacting to the verdict, Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal said in a post that “truth always prevails.”

The CBI had filed its first chargesheet in 2022, followed by multiple supplementary chargesheets, alleging that Rs 100 crore was paid by a “south lobby” to influence the now-scrapped excise policy. In all, 23 people were chargesheeted in the case.

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During arguments, the agency maintained that the alleged conspiracy should be assessed in its entirety during trial, while the defence contended there was no incriminating material linking Kejriwal to the case, noting that his name appeared only in the fourth supplementary chargesheet.