CBI arrests Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia after 8 hours of questioning

Karam Prakash

New Delhi, February 26

In a jolt to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, anti-graft agency CBI on Sunday arrested Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for his alleged role in the liquor policy case.

ABOUT THE EXCISE SCAM

• CBI FIR states Sisodia & other public servants took decisions pertaining to 2021-2022 excise policy without approval of competent authority with the ‘intention to extend undue favours to licencees post tender”
• According to the FIR, Sisodia’s ‘close associates’ were actively involved in diverting funds collected from liquor licencees for the accused in the case. They collected around Rs 4 crore to

Rs 5 crore in two payments

• 15 persons, including the Delhi Deputy CM, were named in the FIR related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The FIR was based on a reference from L-G Saxena

This is the second high-profile arrest involving an AAP minister in Delhi. Last May, the Enforcement Directorate had arrested Delhi Health and Power Minister Satyendar Jain for money laundering. Jain is lodged in Tihar jail.

Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann visit Dy CM’s wife

Sisodia was grilled for over eight hours before being arrested, with sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation justifying the need for custodial interrogation, saying the Delhi minister’s answers were not satisfactory and that he was not cooperating.

The arrest has come as a big blow to the AAP government in Delhi, given Sisodia’s stature in the state Cabinet. Sisodia holds 18 portfolios, including Finance, Planning, Land and Building, Vigilance, Services, Tourism, Labour, Employment, Public Works Department, Health, Industries, Power, Home, Urban Development, Irrigation and Flood Control, and Water. Sisodia is in fact the de facto CM, with Arvind Kejriwal not holding any portfolio.

The arrest, which followed Sisodia’s emotional outburst before party supporters as he appeared for questioning this morning, triggered a political slugfest between rivals AAP and BJP. Chief Minister Kejriwal termed the events “dirty politics”, while the BJP slammed AAP for “histrionics and drama”.

Tweeting in Sisodia’s support, Kejriwal said: “Manish is innocent. This is dirty politics. His arrest has angered people. People are watching everything. People now understand everything and will give a reply to this. It will boost our spirit and our struggle will only get stronger.”

BJP’s Sambit Patra hit back, saying: “Sisodia has failed to answer pointed questions in the excise policy — why he allowed cartelisation, why were manufacturers allowed to enter the retail market?”

Meanwhile, investigators of CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch grilled the minister on various aspects of the excise policy, his alleged links to Dinesh Arora, who has turned approver in the case, and other accused mentioned in the FIR, and details of message exchanges from multiple phones, among others.

The officials said the investigators did not find Sisodia’s responses satisfactory and he was not cooperating in the investigation. “He even avoided clarifications sought on crucial points, which led to his arrest,” said CBI sources.

“The arrest was necessary, as it was felt custodial interrogation was required to put Sisodia through intense questioning,” a senior official added. Sisodia has been named as the first accused in the CBI FIR registered under Sections 120-B and 477-A of the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, including Section 7.

Sisodia was first questioned on October 17 last year, a month before the probe agency filed its charge-sheet in the case on November 25. But the AAP leader’s name did not figure in the charge-sheet. At the charge-sheet stage, charges would be framed against Sisodia under relevant IPC sections and the Prevention of Corruption Act and if convicted, it would lead to a jail term of seven years, said another CBI official.

The Representation of People’s Act, 1951, provides for anyone sentenced to imprisonment of “two years or more” to be disqualified “from the date of such conviction” and disqualification for another six years after serving time in jail.

Besides Sisodia, the CBI had named Arva Gopi Krishna, then commissioner (excise); Anand Tiwari, then deputy commissioner (excise); Pankaj Bhatnagar, assistant commissioner (excise); Vijay Nair, former CEO, Only Much Louder (event management firm); Manoj Rai, former employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, director, Brindco Sales Pvt Ltd; and Sameer Mahendru, managing director, Indospirit Group, as accused in the FIR.

On August 17 last year, the CBI had registered a case against Sisodia, then excise department officials and businessmen for cheating, bribery in new excise policy (2021-22), which was later shelved. On August 19, the CBI raided the residences of Sisodia and three other AAP members.

Meanwhile, 50 AAP workers and leaders, including MP Sanjay Singh and Delhi minister Gopal Rai, were detained by the Delhi Police for allegedly violating Section 144 of the CrPC. The AAP workers were holding a protest outside the CBI headquarters while Sisodia was being questioned.