First Manish Sisodia, then Sanjay Singh, and now Arvind Kejriwal. One after the other, many big leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party are falling victim to the alleged liquor policy scam. First Sisodia's Holi-Diwali was celebrated in jail, then Sanjay Singh's Diwali was also celebrated in jail and now Arvind Kejriwal's Holi will be celebrated in the custody of Central Investigation Agency ED. The 'one bottle free with one liquor bottle' scheme, which was introduced claiming to increase the revenue of Delhi, has suddenly spoiled the celebrations of the Aam Aadmi Party. Sanjay Singh was arrested before Diwali, now ED has arrested Kejriwal before Holi. Aam Aadmi Party has also announced that this time its leaders and workers will not celebrate Holi.

In fact, as of March 28, the new address of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has become the ED office. On Friday, the court sent Kejriwal to ED remand till March 28. And this time his Holi will be spent in ED custody. Describing Arvind Kejriwal as the kingpin of the Delhi liquor scam, ED presented a remand copy of 28 pages in the court and demanded a remand of 10 days. However, the court gave its verdict late in the evening and approved remand for 6 days. This is the first time in the history of independent India, that a leader has been arrested while holding the post of Chief Minister and the court has also approved his remand. However, giving some relief to Kejriwal, the court has allowed him to meet his wife Sunita Kejriwal, and personal secretary Vibhav Kumar for half an hour every day during ED custody. Also, given poor health, orders have been given to give a diet prescribed by the doctor.

...when Sisodia celebrated festivals in jail 

Former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia was arrested on 26 February 2023 on charges of alleged scam in Delhi liquor policy. After this, he approached the lower court to the higher court, but the bail was not approved. Due to this, Sisodia spent Holi in jail only. On the other hand, time passed and bail petitions kept getting rejected. Then came the month of November. Sisodia was hopeful that even if not Holi, he would be able to celebrate Diwali with his family, and the court would grant him bail. Sisodia got bail on 10 November but only for 6 hours, and that too not to celebrate Diwali, but to meet his ailing wife. The court granted bail to Sisodia to meet his ailing wife from 10 am to 4 pm on Chhoti Diwali on November 11, that too with several conditions. After this, he had to surrender and spend his Diwali in jail. Now his second Holi is also going to be celebrated in jail.

Sanjay Singh was arrested before Diwali

Similarly, Sanjay Singh was also arrested on 4 October 2023, a few days before Diwali. More than 5 months have passed since this happened. Delhi High Court has also rejected the bail plea of ​​Sanjay Singh. Sanjay Singh was presented in the court on November 10 last year. It was feared that he would get bail to celebrate Diwali. But when the court gave its verdict, Sanjay Singh was disappointed. The court extended his judicial custody and he spent his Diwali in jail. Recently, Sanjay Singh got bail for a few hours to contest the Rajya Sabha elections and then take the oath, but could not get any major relief from the court. The situation is such that now Sanjay Singh's Holi will also be celebrated in jail.

How and why was the new liquor policy brought?

It is noteworthy that the Kejriwal government had brought a new liquor policy in Delhi in November 2021. Under the new liquor policy, the liquor business in Delhi was handed over 100 percent to private hands. Regarding the new liquor policy, it was claimed that it would increase the government's revenue and the shortcomings of the old policy would be removed. This is where the twist in the story came. Serious allegations were made regarding the new liquor policy. The allegation is that provisions were inserted in the excise policy to benefit certain businessmen and in return, the businessmen who benefited from the liquor policy received a bribe of Rs 100 crore from the Kejriwal government. After questions were raised, the Kejriwal government withdrew the new liquor policy and completely rejected the allegations of any kind of scam in its policy. 

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16 accused were arrested in the case, and five characters important

In July 2022, the then Chief Secretary of Delhi submitted a report related to irregularities in the excise policy to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. Based on the report, the Lieutenant Governor recommended a CBI inquiry on July 22, 2022, citing violations of rules and procedural lapses during the implementation of the new excise policy. CBI registered an FIR against 15 people including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Sisodia. Based on this FIR, ED registered a case of money laundering. The investigation started and till now the Central Investigation Agency has raided 250 places across the country. A total of 16 arrests were made on scam charges. Five names are most popular in this. 

Character No. 1: Arvind Kejriwal
Character No. 2: Manish Sisodia 
Character No. 3: Sanjay Singh 
Character No. 4: Vijay Nair 
Character No. 5: Former CM KCR's daughter K Kavita 

The entire file of allegations of liquor scam revolves around these 5 tenants, but all of them raised questions on the investigation report of ED and CBI, and declared themselves innocent and politically motivated. According to the allegations, every character had their own role in the scam. 

How much evidence does ED have against Kejriwal?

Now people have many questions in their minds regarding ED's action. The questions are that how much and what evidence does the ED have against Kejriwal, that the investigating agency itself arrested the Chief Minister of Delhi. There were discussions about Kejriwal's arrest for a long time, but people did not think that the Chief Minister would be arrested so easily. Actually, ED alleges that Kejriwal has played the biggest role in this entire scam. It was Kejriwal who got the draft excise policy prepared by dealing with liquor traders. 

If the investigating agency is to be believed, it is alleged that Kejriwal has carried out this alleged liquor policy scam with the help of Kavita, daughter of former Telangana CM KCR, and in return, Kejriwal received a bribe of Rs 100 crore. ED based many pieces of evidence against Kejriwal to seek remand in the court. ED told the court that it has the statement of K. Kavita's accountant Buchibabu. This is the statement of MP Srinivasulu Reddy who gave a bribe. There is evidence of Kejriwal's conversation through video calling regarding the deal with a big liquor businessman accused in the scam. However, Kejriwal has been calling all the allegations against him baseless.