Money generated in excise scam used as per wishes of Kejriwal: CBI to court

The CBI on Tuesday claimed before a Delhi court that the money generated from the excise "scam" was spent according to the wishes of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who promised Rs 90 lakh to each candidate of his party in the 2022 Goa assembly elections.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) made the submission before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja, who extended the judicial custody of Kejriwal in the case of alleged corruption till September 3.

The CBI urged the court to take cognisance of a charge sheet that it has filed against Kejriwal and others.

Money has been spent according to the wishes of Kejriwal...the entire money was sent in the funds of AAP. He had promised Rs 90 lakh to be given to each candidate of each constituency and there are 40 constituencies in Goa, the CBI told the court, which reserved the order on whether to take cognisance of the charge sheet for September 3.

The CBI told the court that Vijay Nair, a co-accused and former AAP communication in-charge, was appointed by Kejriwal to negotiate a deal with the 'South Group' comprising BRS leader K Kavitha, Raghav Magunta, Arun Pillai, Butchibabu Gorantla, P Sarath Reddy, Abhishek Boinpally and Benoy Babu. All of them are co-accused in the case.

According to the CBI, the 'South Group' is a cartel of businessmen and politicians who gave kickbacks of Rs 100 crore to Delhi's ruling AAP in return for liquor licences.

The CBI claimed that AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak was appointed as the party in-charge for the Goa elections and the money received through kickbacks was spent on his instructions. All transactions involving election expenses were made in cash, it alleged.

The judge extended Kejriwal's custody after he was produced before the court through video conference on expiry of the judicial custody granted earlier.