India court acquits Modi opponent in graft case

NEW DELHI, Feb 27 (AFP): An Indian court acquitted a former Delhi chief minister on Friday in a corruption case he denounced as a "political conspiracy" by the rival ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, had served as the capital's chief minister before losing elections in 2025 as the judicial proceedings against him were underway.
He was jailed for several months in 2024 after being arrested on accusations that his administration had received kickbacks from the allocation of liquor licenses.
The 57-year-old politician wept as he left the court in New Delhi.
The trial court cleared Kejriwal, his former deputy Manish Sisodia and 21 others of all charges, saying mere approval of policy decisions "without evidence of dishonest intention" did not attract criminal liability.
Kejriwal demanded an apology from Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing them of being "the main conspirators" who wanted to destroy his party.
"This entire thing was orchestrated by two people-Narendra Modi and Amit Shah-and they should apologise," he said at a news conference.