The arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia by the CBI has led to protests by Aam Aadmi Party workers in various parts of the country. The arrest took place on Sunday night and on Monday afternoon, a CBI court in Delhi remanded him to CBI custody till March 4. It is being placed before them for “a fair and impartial inquiry” into the alleged irregularities in the Liquor Excise Policy of 2021-22.
The court said, “Though it is seen that the accused had joined the investigation on the first two occasions, it is also seen that he has failed to give satisfactory answers to most of the questions put to him during his examination and thus fails Used to be.” Legitimately explain the incriminating evidence that has allegedly come to light against him in the investigation conducted so far.
The judge, however, said Sisodia cannot be expected to make a self-incriminating statement, but “in the interest of justice and a fair investigation it is necessary that he should give valid answers to the questions that are being put to him”. ” Investigating Officer.
Judge Nagpal said: “Some subordinates of Sisodia have disclosed certain facts which can be taken as incriminating him and some documentary evidence against him has also come to the fore.” The investigation conducted so far in the case has revealed that Sisodia played an “active role in the commission of the alleged offences”, the court said. In his order, the judge felt that Sisodia, being a member of the Group of Ministers as well as Excise Minister, was manipulating certain changes in the cabinet note on the draft policy placed along with the report of the expert committee.
Special Public Prosecutor Pankaj Gupta, appearing for the CBI, told the court that Sisodia was not cooperating with the investigation and did not disclose the true facts relating to the aforesaid conspiracy, the role of other accused including public servants as well as the symptoms of the disease. Money received through hawala channels.
Three senior advocates Dayan Krishnan, Siddharth Agarwal and Mohit Mathur, appearing for Sisodia, told the court that the allegations of manipulation of the excise policy were completely false, as the excise policy got the approval of the lieutenant governor later and the same, the Council of Ministers. And being an act of the government, it cannot be challenged in the court.
While sending Sisodia to CBI custody for five days, the court put some conditions. The interrogation should be done at a place which has CCTV coverage, the footage of the same should be preserved by the CBI, Sisodia should undergo a medical examination once in every 48 hours and he should be allowed to meet his lawyers for half an hour daily from 6 pm should be allowed. At 7 pm in such a way that the CBI personnel could not hear their conversation. The court also allowed Sisodia to meet his wife day for 15 minutes.
While AAP leaders are leading protests across the country alleging “political vendetta”, none of them is going through the nitty-gritty of the excise matter. The CBI has alleged that Manish Sisodia was in touch with liquor barons during the formulation of the policy, the Excise Policy prepared by a consortium of the South in a hotel in Delhi. The CBI has already alleged that 36 accused, including Sisodia, deleted all data from their cellphones and destroyed or replaced their handsets soon after the investigation began.
The CBI alleged that when the case was registered against Manish Sisodia on August 19 last year, the deputy CM changed three cellphones within 24 hours, changed one SIM card and started using three new cellphones on August 20. Between August and September, 2022, Sisodia changed 18 cellphones. A total of 170 cellphones were exchanged by all the 36 accused, worth Rs 1.38 crore. CBI investigators want to know why these cellphones were changed and from where the data was deleted. CBI investigators now want to interrogate Sisodia in the presence of other accused.
Why are you so aggressive about arresting Sisodia? The reasons are simple. The investigation of liquor scam can now reach Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The Enforcement Directorate is already working on this angle. Four days back, the ED had questioned Kejriwal’s personal assistant Vibhav Kumar.
In short, the new excise policy formulated by the Delhi AAP government was meant to ensure huge profits for liquor traders, that the policy was prepared by liquor traders, and no one would believe that crores of rupees were siphoned off. Secondly, if Sisodia has not committed any wrongdoing then why did he keep changing his cellphone and destroying the SIM card again and again? Why was date completely removed from computer servers?
The CBI alleged that Dinesh Arora, a Gurugram-based liquor baron who is an accused in the case, directly dealt with Sisodia. Arora is now a prosecution witness. The officials of the Excise Department also revealed several facts to the CBI investigators. Sisodia’s troubles are bound to increase and sooner or later the flames of this scam may reach Arvind Kejriwal as well. Kejriwal is the Chief Minister of Delhi, but he does not hold a single ministry. He has assigned 18 portfolios out of 33 to Sisodia.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who is spending time in Tihar Jail, has not yet been removed from the cabinet. Both Jain and Sisodia are pillars of the Kejriwal government and both are now in custody. Politically, Kejriwal can make this a major issue of the ruling party’s vendetta. Trinamool Congress, Akhilesh Yadav and Shiv Sena (Uddhav) leaders have already condemned the arrest, but the Congress is tight-lipped about it. Congress leaders are in a dilemma whether to support or oppose the arrest. Last week, when Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera was arrested from Delhi airport, the AAP leader remained silent. On Monday, Abhishek Manu Singhvi tweeted that there was no reason behind the arrest, but soon after, he tweeted again to clarify that he was making the comments as a lawyer and not as a party spokesperson. In.
Opposition leaders are right in saying that during the last eight years, whether in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and now in Delhi, a large number of raids and arrests of opposition leaders were done by ED and CBI. But BJP leaders say that if a leader is found involved in corruption, should he be absolved, just because he belongs to a political party?
Leaders of Congress, TMC, NCP and AAP have been found involved in several cases in different states. Many of them are in jail and some are out on bail, but the Delhi Excise case is an exception. It consists of two states, two governments and two parties in Delhi and Telangana – Aam Aadmi Party and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (earlier TRS). There seems to be a nexus between the two.
CBI investigators say that the Delhi Excise Policy was prepared by the liquor traders of Telangana and it was implemented by the Delhi government. Money was exchanged between the leaders of the two states. Chief Minister of Telangana K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s BRS leader has been quite vocal in condemning Sisodia’s arrest. Now the big challenge before the CBI: it has to prove the accused guilty in the court, otherwise the Center may have to face embarrassment. Opposition leaders will then get an opportunity to allege that their leaders have been arrested in false cases. Nowadays the situation has become such that when leaders come out on bail, they take out victory processions as if to show that they have been acquitted.
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