Jain to Kejriwal, aggregate jail time of AAP’s five top leaders — 82 months

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2 min readNew DelhiFeb 28, 2026 05:54 AM IST

Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Delhi Excise Policy case, CBI court verdict, AAP leaders discharged, Rouse Avenue Court, Special Judge Jitender Singh, Delhi trial court ruling, liquor scam probe, corruption case AAP, South Group excise policy, Section 120B IPC, Indian political news, Delhi High Court CBI appeal, election expenditure audit.AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj and others at party office in New Delhi on Friday. PTI

From six months to almost two-and-a-half years, five leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party’s top leadership, including its convenor Arvind Kejriwal, spent an aggregate of 82 months – only two months shy of seven years — behind bars.

It started in May 2022 with the arrest of one of Kejriwal’s close aides Satyendar Jain, who was the Delhi Health Minister at the time, in an alleged money laundering case by the ED. Jain spent two years and five months behind bars in a case registered by the CBI in 2017. He is the only one on the list of AAP leaders who were sent to jail on charges separate from the excise case.

Another jolt came when AAP’s communications in-charge Vijay Nair was arrested in September 2022. He was released two years later in the same month in 2024.

The bigger jolt came when Manish Sisodia, then Delhi Deputy CM, was arrested in February 2023. He walked out of jail 17 months later in August 2024.

This was followed by the arrest of the AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in October 2023. He got bail in April 2024 after spending six months in prison.

The party’s biggest setback in the excise policy saga was the arrest of then CM Arvind Kejriwal in March 2024. Barring a 21-day interim reprieve (May 10 and June 1) from the Supreme Court for the Lok Sabha poll campaigning, Kejriwal walked out on a regular bail in September 2024.

Jatin Anand is an Assistant Editor with the national political bureau of The Indian Express. With over 16 years of experience in mainstream journalism, he is a seasoned expert in national governance, electoral politics, and bureaucratic affairs. Having covered high-stakes beats including the Election Commission of India (ECI), intelligence, and urban development, Jatin provides authoritative analysis of the forces shaping Indian democracy. He is an alumnus of Zakir Husain Delhi College (DU) and the prestigious Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, where he specialized in Print Journalism. Expertise High-Stakes Beat Coverage: Throughout his decade-and-a-half career, Jatin has covered some of the most sensitive and influential beats in the country, including: The Election Commission of India (ECI): Monitoring electoral policy, reforms, and the conduct of national and state polls. National Security & Intelligence: Reporting on the internal mechanisms and developments within India's security apparatus. Urban Development: Analyzing the policies and bureaucratic processes driving the transformation of India’s cities. National Political Bureau: In his current role, he tracks the intersection of policy and politics, offering deep-dive reporting on the Union government and national political movements. Academic Credentials: Zakir Husain Delhi College (DU): Alumnus of one of Delhi's premier institutions. Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai: Specialized in Print Journalism at India's most prestigious journalism school. ... Read More

Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023. Professional Background Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University. Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories. Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts. Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials. Recent notable articles In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories. 1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.  2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation. 3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police. Signature Style Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public. X (Twitter): @Nirbhaya99 ... Read More

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