Delhi’s former chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, broke down in tears after he and his deputy were discharged in a corruption case linked to a now-scrapped liquor sales policy in the Indian capital.
Mr Kejriwal, a prominent rival of prime minister Narendra Modi, was arrested in 2024 and charged with involvement in a money-laundering case linked to the 2021-22 Delhi Excise Policy, brought by his then state government.
Investigators alleged that the policy was manipulated to favour certain liquor traders in return for kickbacks to members of his Aam Aadmi Party. Mr Kejriwal and his party denied the allegations.
On Friday, a Delhi court cleared Mr Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 other people, citing lack of evidence and describing the case as “premeditated and choreographed”.
The court said that “no overarching conspiracy or criminal intent in the excise policy”.
The ruling is a big relief for Mr Kejriwal and his party. The Aam Aadmi Party was founded in 2012 on the plank of rooting out corruption, with Mr Kejriwal campaigning on issues such as clean governance, lower electricity bills, better public schools, and accessible public healthcare.
Special judge Jitendra Singh of the Rouse Avenue Court came down heavily on the federal agencies which had charged the opposition politicians. He criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation in particular for “trying to construct a narrative of conspiracy on the basis of mere conjecture", legal news website Bar and Bench reported.
“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,” he ruled. “There are internal contradictions in the prosecution’s case.”
“The charge of manipulation can’t stand,” the judge said in his ruling. “The policy travelled through established constitutional channels. The structure of the policy doesn’t constitute an offence. The record reflects institutional deliberation.”
VIDEO | AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) breaks down as he addresses media after appearing before Rouse Avenue Court over the Delhi Excise Policy case. He says, "For the past few years, the way BJP has been accusing us in the Delhi excise policy case, today… pic.twitter.com/jtREb0JyVi
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 27, 2026
The judge concluded his order by invoking Martin Luther King Jr. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Speaking outside the court, Mr Kejriwal broke down in tears. “All my life, I’ve only been honest,” he said. “Today it has been proven.”
“I am not corrupt. The court has said that Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia are honest. Today the court has discharged all the accused in the case. We have always said the truth emerges victorious,” the former chief minister added.
He blamed Mr Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party for hatching a political conspiracy to throw his party out of power in Delhi and put its senior leaders in jail.
"Kejriwal is staunchly honest," Mr Kejriwal said in Hindi, adding the case was the "biggest political conspiracy" in independent India's history to target his party.
His wife, Sunita Kejriwal, who took command of the party while he was in jail, welcomed him home while party supporters celebrated the ruling as a victory against alleged political vendetta.
The judge said he was ordering departmental action against the CBI officer handling the case to ensure accountability and protect the credibility of the investigative system.
The judge said an investigation must be based on clear and consistent evidence, not on vague or shifting positions designed to keep future prosecution options open.
Since there was no material evidence against the accused persons, the court said that it wouldn’t only disregard the flawed investigation but recommend disciplinary proceedings against the CBI officer for wrongly naming them.
The CBI said it would appeal in the Delhi High Court, claiming key aspects of its investigation were ignored or not adequately considered.
Mr Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on 21 March 2024. He secured bail from the Supreme Court to campaign in that year’s state election but was then arrested by the CBI.
He spent 156 days in jail before he was granted bail on 13 September 2024. He then resigned from his post as chief minister.
His right-hand man, Mr Sisodia, spent a longer period of 17 months in jail. Another prominent party member, Sanjay Singh, was also jailed in the same case.
The policy at the centre of the long-running legal saga was introduced by Mr Kejriwal’s party in 2021 to reform the liquor trade and boost revenue.
It was withdrawn a few months later amid allegations that it’d been implemented in a way that granted undue favours to private entities.
Delhi’s lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, appointed by the federal government, accused the party of exploiting rules to benefit private liquor barons and ordered an investigation by the CBI.
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