Judge Amitabh Rawat of the Delhi Rouse Avenue Court heard the CBI and Kejriwal at length before reserving its order.
The CBI had earlier today formally arrested Kejriwal after judge Rawat declined to interfere with the probe.
The CBI then sought custody of Kejriwal for five days.
During the hearing today, Kejriwal addressed the Court in person and maintained that he and other AAP leaders including Manish Sisodia who have been implicated in the case, are innocent.
He also rebutted the CBI’s claim that Kejriwal had shifted the entire blame on Manish Sisodia.
“Maine aesa koi bayan nahi diya hai ki Manish Sisodia doshi hai. Manish Sisodia nirdosh hai, AAP nirdosh hai, main nirdosh hu. Unka saara plan hai hame media main badnaam karne ka. CBI k sources n chalwaya… Inke saare aarop jhhute hain (I have never testified that Manish Sisodia is guilty. Manish Sisodia is innocent, AAP is innocent, I am innocent. Their aim is to malign us through media. CBI has activated its ‘sources’. All their claims are false),” he said.
He alleged that the CBI’s objective is to ensure that media headlines are manipulated to reflect that Kejriwal has put the entire blame on Sisodia.
“Inka idea ye hai ki kal front page pe top headline honi chahiye ki Kejriwal n saara theekra Manish Sisodia pe foda. They are sensationalising the issue. Ye kal top headline hogi har akhbaar me. Inka aaj kewal ye maqsad hi hai (Their idea is to ensure that front page headlines should be ‘Kejriwal has put all blame on Manish Sisodia. They want this headline in all newspapers. That is their sole aim),” Kejriwal said.
The Court too agreed with Kejriwal and said that Kejriwal had not stated what the CBI was attributing to him.
“Apki statement maine padh li hai, aapne aesa nahi kaha hai (I read your statement. You have not said what CBI has claimed (on Sisodia),” the judge said.
Kejriwal then explained what he had said in his statement to the CBI.
“Maine kaha tha 3 objectives hain excise policy ke. Hame revenue badhana tha aur jo lambi lines lagti hain wo khatam karni hain aur equitable distribution… Maine Manish Sisodia ko bula ke ye 3 directions diye the. They asked ki privatisation kiska idea tha? I said, mera idea nahi tha,” the Delhi CM stated.
“Media picks up one line. It is very difficult to control media that way,” the Court remarked while reserving its order.
Source: Barandbench
