'KEEP CBI, ED PROBES AWAY FROM POLITICS'

A Delhi court on Friday held that investigations by CBI and ED cannot be allowed to enter the “political arena” merely on allegations of excessive election spending by a political party, as it discharged AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Telangana Jagruthi founder K Kavitha and 20 others in the alleged liquor policy corruption case.

- FPJ News Service

Special Judge Jitendra Singh of Rouse Avenue Courts said permitting such a course would lead to the “criminalisation of electoral competition” and arm the executive with “coercive instruments capable of influencing political outcomes,” Live Law reports.

“If investigative agencies such as the CBI or enforcement authorities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) were permitted to enter the electoral arena merely on allegations of ‘cash spending’, ‘illegal funding’, or ‘unaccounted expenditure’, the inevitable consequence would be the criminalisation of electoral competition,” the Court said.