New Delhi, August 17, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Delhi High Court on Monday granted former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other accused four weeks to respond to the CBI’s challenge against their discharge in the alleged excise policy corruption case.
Justice Manoj Jain described the opportunity as the final chance to file replies and listed the matter for hearing on October 5 and 6. The court said arguments would be heard together on those dates and indicated that no further adjournments would be granted.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), opposed the request for additional time by the AAP leaders, describing the plea as a “childish” tactic.
In his petition, Sisodia argued that the CBI had approached the High Court within four hours of the trial court’s judgment and had filed its challenge “without a second thought”. He also contended that the CBI petition did not identify which evidence had allegedly been overlooked in relation to each accused.
The trial court, in a judgment running to more than 1,100 paragraphs delivered on February 27, discharged all accused in the corruption case registered by the CBI. It held that the now-scrapped excise policy had emerged from a consultative and deliberative process and that the prosecution had failed to establish an overarching conspiracy.
The CBI has challenged the discharge before the High Court, alleging that the excise policy introduced by the then AAP-led Delhi government was manipulated to benefit select liquor traders in return for kickbacks.
The matter came before Justice Jain after it was transferred from the court of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma. The reassignment came amid criminal contempt proceedings against several AAP leaders, including Kejriwal, Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, over alleged circulation of “vilifying and defamatory” material targeting the judiciary in connection with the excise policy case.
On August 4, the High Court adjourned those suo motu criminal contempt proceedings until September 21. A Division Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja had directed the registry to provide the respondents digital copies of the material underlying the contempt reference after senior counsel representing Kejriwal and other AAP leaders said they had not received the relevant documents.
The Bench also granted the proposed contemnors four weeks to file their replies in the contempt proceedings.
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