CBI to appeal ‘immediately’ against discharge of Kejriwal, Sisodia in excise policy case
2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Feb 27, 2026 01:32 PM IST
Hours after a Delhi court discharged Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and others in the CBI’s corruption case linked to the alleged excise policy scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday said it will immediately file an appeal in the High Court against the judgment of the trial court.
In a statement, a CBI spokesperson said, “The CBI has decided to appeal in the Hon’ble High Court against the judgement of the trial court immediately since several aspects of investigation have either been ignored or not considered adequately.”
While the CBI did not disclose further details about the specific findings it is challenging, sources indicated that the investigative agency believes the trial court’s interpretation of certain evidentiary elements was “erroneous and inconsistent” with the records of the case.
Before reading his discharge order, Special Judge Jitendra Singh of Rouse Avenue Court had said: “Kabhi kabhi jab file bahaut zyaada padte ho, toh aapse baat karne lagti hai file (Sometimes when you read too many files, the files start talking to you).”
The court then noted that there “was no overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the excise policy” while discharging the 23.
“The prosecution case doesn’t stand scrutiny. The record reflects continuity, and consultation. There is no abrupt interruption to constitute criminal intent. The overarching conspiracy theory fails here. There are internal contradictions in the prosecution’s case,” said Judge Singh.
He also said that the chargesheet was filled with lacunae.
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In its case, the CBI had claimed that Rs 100 crore was received by the party in “advance kickbacks” and had alleged that Kejriwal assured that Rs 90 lakh would be given to each of the 40 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates during the 2022 Goa Assembly elections.
This amount was to be allegedly given from “bribe money” received from the “South Group” (business persons from South India) in exchange for granting favours to them while drafting the now-scrapped excise policy.
