New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday (February 27) cleared former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia of all charges in the alleged liquor scam. Kejriwal said the court order proves that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders are honest and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah of conspiring against the party.Special judge Jitender Singh slammed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for lapses in the investigation and said that the “voluminous chargesheet” has many lacunae not supported by any witness or statement, Live Law reported.The judge concluded that Kejriwal was implicated without any cogent material, which raises concerns about the rule of law, especially for someone in a constitutional role. The court underlined that there’s no fundamental material or evidence linking Kejriwal to the alleged conspiracy, making it hard to sustain charges against him.The court found no evidence linking Sisodia, accused of overseeing the liquor policy, to the alleged wrongdoings. The judge also said that there was no recovery of incriminating material or proceeds of crime from him.“For the past few years, the way BJP has been accusing us in the Delhi excise policy case, today the court has rejected all the allegations levelled against us. We have always said that the truth wins. PM [Narendra] Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah conspired against AAP and arrested the party’s five biggest leaders. They wanted to finish AAP. A sitting chief minister was arrested. This had never happened in India,” Kejriwal told reporters outside Rouse Avenue court, PTI reported.“We were accused and called corrupt in every channel. Kejriwal is not corrupt. I have only earned honesty. The court has said today that Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and AAP are honest. Court order proves Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party are ‘kattar imaandar’ [dead honest],” he added, while breaking down into tears.Notably, after spending 56 days in jail, Kejriwal was finally released on September 13, 2024, after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the CBI case, having already received interim bail in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) case.Sisodia was in jail for around 530 days after being arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023 and the ED on March 9, 2023.The other accused who have also been discharged include Kuldeep Singh, Narender Singh, Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Pillai, Mootha Gautam, Sameer Mahendru, Manish Sisodia, Amandeep Singh Dhall, Arjun Pandey, Butchibabu Gorantla, Rajesh Joshi, Damodar Prasad Sharma, Prince Kumar, Arvind Kumar Singh, Chanpreet Singh, K. Kavitha, Durgesh Pathak, Amit Arora, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Chand Mathur and Sarath Reddy.The Delhi government introduced a revised excise policy in 2021, saying it would boost revenues and reform the liquor trade. The policy also aimed to increase private participation. However, the liquor policy was withdrawn after irregularities were alleged, following which Lieutenant-Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena ordered a CBI probe. Kejriwal, Sisodia and others were arrested as central agencies ED and CBI claimed the policy favoured certain entities, causing financial losses and hinted at corruption – charges the accused denied.