New Delhi. A court in the national capital on Wednesday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Durgesh Pathak in a corruption case related to the alleged excise scam being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Special Judge Kaveri Baveja, however, extended the judicial custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the case till September 25.
The judge passed this order when the accused was produced before him as per the earlier order.
The judge had taken cognizance of the chargesheet against Kejriwal, Pathak and others on September 3, saying there was sufficient evidence to proceed against them. He had issued a production warrant for Kejriwal, who is in judicial custody, and summoned Pathak on September 11 (today). The CBI had filed a supplementary chargesheet against Kejriwal, Pathak, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Mathur and Sharat Reddy a few weeks ago.
The agency had informed the court last month that it had obtained the necessary sanction to prosecute Kejriwal and Pathak in the case. The CBI has claimed that the money obtained from the alleged excise scam was spent as per Kejriwal’s wishes. According to the CBI, he (Kejriwal) had promised to give Rs 90 lakh to each candidate of his party in the 2022 Goa Assembly elections. The agency had made this argument while urging the court to take cognizance of the charge sheet.
The chargesheet claims that co-accused and former AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair was appointed by Kejriwal to strike a deal with the ‘South Group’, which comprised BRS leaders K Kavitha, Raghav Magunta, Arun Pillai, Buchibabu Gorantla, P Sharath Reddy, Abhishek Boinpalli and Binay Babu, all of whom are co-accused in the case.
According to the CBI, the ‘South Group’ is a gang of businessmen and politicians who paid a bribe of Rs 100 crore to Delhi’s ruling AAP in exchange for liquor licenses and amendments in the now-expired excise policy. The CBI claimed that Pathak was appointed the party in-charge for the Goa elections and the money received through bribe was spent on his instructions. It is alleged that all transactions related to election expenses were done in cash.