‘CBI wants to defame us’: What Kejriwal told Delhi court after being arrested.

In the application seeking Arvind Kejriwal’s custody, the CBI told the court that he was required to be questioned to unearth “larger conspiracy” in the case. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday denied giving a statement blaming his colleague Manish Sisodia for the alleged excise policy case.  “I have never given any statement saying that Manish Sisodia is guilty. I have given statement that Aam Aadmi Party, Manish Sisodia & me (Kejriwal) are not guilty,” Kejriwal told the city court where he was produced after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “CBI’s motive is to defame us. I have never issued any such statement. They are sensationalising the issue. CBI’s idea is to give sensational headlines to the media that Kejriwal shifted the entire blame on Manish Sisodia,” the Aam Aadmi Party convenor said. Kejriwal made the statement in courtroom after CBI said it needed his custodial interrogation since the CM was failing to recognise that “Vijay Nair was working under him.” “Kejriwal had said that Nair was working with Saurabh Bhardwaj and Atishi Marlena, and the CM is pushing the entire onus on Manish Sisodia & saying that he has no idea about the excise policy,” DP Singh, the special public prosecutor appearing for CBI, told the court. In the application seeking Kejriwal’s custody, the CBI told the court that he was required to be questioned to unearth the “larger conspiracy” in the matter. It also said that the Delhi CM was required to be confronted with evidence and other people accused in the case. “We could identify a trail of ₹44 odd crore which goes to Goa through hawala channels. The probe agency has evidence in this regard. Chanpreet Singh used proceeds of crime to pay for CMs stay in Goa,” Singh argued. Kejriwal’s counsel Vikram Chaudhari said that the remand application is “totally vague”. “It’s a classic case of abuse of power. The principles of Arnesh Kumar and Satinder Kumar Antil are required to be applied in “letter and spirit” in this case,” he argued. Chaudhari pointed out that though Kejriwal’s name was cropping in almost every chargesheet but the CBI chose to maintain “eerie silence”.