Excise 'scam': AAP's Durgesh Pathak gets bail, Kejriwal's custody extended

A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) leader Durgesh Pathak in a corruption case related to the alleged Delhi excise scam being probed by the CBI. Special judge Kaveri Baweja also extended the judicial custody of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to 25 September in the case.

The judge passed the order after the accused appeared before the court in pursuance to its earlier order. On 3 September, the judge had taken cognisance of the charge sheet against Kejriwal, Pathak and others, saying there was sufficient evidence to proceed against them.

The judge had issued a production warrant for Kejriwal, who is lodged in judicial custody, and summoned Pathak on 11 September.

The CBI had filed a supplementary charge sheet against Kejriwal, Pathak, Vinod Chauhan, Ashish Mathur and Sarath Reddy a few weeks ago. The central probe agency informed the court last month that it had obtained the requisite sanctions to prosecute Kejriwal and Pathak in the case.

The CBI has claimed that the money generated from the alleged excise scam was spent according to the wishes of Kejriwal, who promised Rs 90 lakh to each candidate of his party in the 2022 Goa Assembly elections.

The agency had made the submission while urging the court to take cognisance of the charge sheet.

It claimed that Vijay Nair, a co-accused and former AAP communications in-charge, was appointed by Kejriwal to negotiate a deal with the 'South Group’ comprising BRS (Bharath Rashtra Samity) 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 offered kickbacks of Rs 100 crore to Delhi's ruling AAP in return for liquor licences and modifications to the now-scrapped excise policy to benefit them.

The CBI claimed that 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.