Excise ‘scam’: Delhi court grants AAP’s Durgesh Pathak bail, extends Kejriwal’s custody till Sep 25

NEW DELHI — A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to AAP leader Durgesh Pathak in a corruption case related to the alleged excise scam, being probed by the CBI.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja also extended the judicial custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till September 25 in the case.

The judge passed the order after the accused appeared before the court in pursuance to its earlier order.

Related: CM Kejriwal to be produced today in Delhi court

The judge had on September 3 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 September 11.

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 INR 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 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 INR 100 crore to Delhi’s ruling AAP in return for liquor licences and modifying 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.