(Combining related stories)
The CBI on Sunday evening arrested Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22 after nearly eight hours of questioning as his answers were not satisfactory, officials said.
The officials of the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch grilled the minister on various aspects of the excise policy, his alleged link with Dinesh Arora and other accused mentioned in the FIR, and details of message exchanges from multiple phones among others, they said.
The CBI investigators were not satisfied with the Sisodia’s responses. It was claimed that he was not cooperating in the investigation and avoiding clarifications sought by officials on crucial points, leading to his arrest, they said.
The probe agency officials said it was felt that custodial interrogation was necessary to put Sisodia through intense questioning, they said.
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Before leaving for the CBI office earlier in the day, Sisodia had expressed apprehension that he may be arrested.
He went to Raj Ghat along with his supporters before reaching the CBI headquarters which was turned into an impregnable fortress by Delhi Police by raising four layers of barricades on the JLN Stadium Road since 1 am, officials said.
They said the media personnel and everyday passers-by were stopped at the SCOPE Complex gate, around 500 meters from the CBI Headquarters, to prevent any protests or breakdown of law and order.
Addressing the media and supporters from his official vehicle, a white-coloured electric car, Sisodia expressed apprehensions about his arrest.
“When I left my job as a journalist, my wife supported me. Even today, my family is standing by my side. My workers will take care of my family if I get arrested,” he said.
The AAP leader, the accused number one in the CBI FIR, was first questioned on October 17, a month before the probe agency filed its charge sheet in the case on November 25 last year.
Excise policy case: CBI raids at residence of Dy CM Manish Sisodia, other locations
According to officials, the CBI had not named Sisodia in the charge sheet as the central probe agency kept the probe open against him and other suspects and accused.
He was booked under IPC sections 120-B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and 477A (falsification of accounts) and provisions of the Prevention Of Corruption Act including Section 7 (taking undue advantage to influence a public servant by corrupt or illegal means or by the exercise of personal influence).
Along with Sisodia, the CBI had also named Arva Gopi Krishna, the then commissioner (excise); Anand Tiwari, the then deputy commissioner (excise); Pankaj Bhatnagar, assistant commissioner (excise); Vijay Nair, former CEO, Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company; Manoj Rai, ex-employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, director, Brindco Sales Pvt. Ltd; Sameer Mahendru, managing director, Indospirit Group, as accused in the FIR.
AAP MP Sanjay Singh described the arrest of the party leader as the height of dictatorship and said God will not forgive Prime Minister Narendra Modi for it.
“Sisodia’s arrest is the height of dictatorship. You have arrested a good person and best education minister which is not the right thing, Modi ji. God will not forgive you. One day, your dictatorship will definitely end, Modi ji,” Singh said in a tweet in Hindi.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson and MLA Atishi said Sisodia was arrested because of growing popularity of the party and its leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the arrest of his deputy by the CBI is dirty politics and asserted that he was innocent.
“Manish is innocent. His arrest is dirty politics. His arrest has angered people quite a lot. 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,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.
Mann slammed the BJP for the arrest of Sisodia, saying the move was an “insult” to the education that lakhs of children are getting in Delhi.
“The arrest of Manish Sisodia is actually an insult to the education of lakhs of children of Delhi..Sending the one who builds schools to jail is part of the BJP’s agenda,” Mann charged in a tweet in Hindi.
Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann visited Manish Sisodia’s residence to meet his family members after the AAP leader’s arrest on Sunday.