Mallika Dureja
A Delhi court has ordered that Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia remain in CBI custody until March 4 for interrogation. Mr. Sisodia was detained yesterday for alleged corruption in the now-retracted Delhi liquor policy.
Here’s your 10-Point cheatsheet in this big story:
- The agency informed a Delhi court that Manish Sisodia has provided evasive responses to their queries and failed to explain at least six contentious provisions in the liquor policy that were not included in the initial draught. The agency asserts that the modifications were made at the behest of a beverage lobby in exchange for 30 crore in bribes.
- A draught note was recovered from Mr. Sisodia’s computer which indicates that the profit margin clause was changed from 5% to 12%. The agency alleges that an investigation revealed Mr. Sisodia gave the draught note to the excise commissioner after removing the legal expert’s opinion.
- Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, who represented Mr Sisodia, questioned if the inability to answer the CBI’s questions can be a ground for remand. “Their case is that I did not confess. They expect me to answer the way they want. There cannot be self-incrimination,” he said.
- He has also argued that the liquor policy was signed off by the Lieutenant Governor in May 2021. “What the CBI is trying to hide here is… LG gave suggestions and even those suggestions were also accepted and included before implementation,” the advocate said.
- Aam Aadmi Party workers and supporters, meanwhile, hit the streets in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Bhopal, and other cities to protest against Mr Sisodia’s arrest. In a tweet, AAP alleged that “PM Modi’s Police forcibly enter the AAP office to arrest AAP volunteers” and called it an “Emergency-like situation”.
- Chaotic scenes were witnessed near the BJP headquarters in New Delhi as police detained several of the protesters. As AAP protestors tried to march towards the BJP office in Delhi, the police blocked their way. Several protesters who tried to climb the barricades were detained. Visuals from the spot showed the police personnel shoving AAP workers into 10-15 buses.
- Manish Sisodia faces corruption allegations in bringing a new liquor sale policy in the national capital. The CBI contends that liquor companies had involved in drafting parts of the 2021 policy, for which kickbacks were paid by a liquor lobby it dubbed the “South Group”.
- The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Mr Sisodia yesterday after questioning him for eight hours. Mr Sisodia spent the night at the CBI headquarters of the in Delhi. A team of doctors from AIIMS conducted a medical examination of the AAP leader at the CBI headquarters due to security reasons.
- “I am told that most CBI officers were against Manish’s arrest. All of them have huge respect for him and there is no evidence against him. But the political pressure to arrest him was so high that they had to obey their political masters,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted this morning.
- Almost all opposition parties have slammed the arrest of Mr Sisodia. “Opposition leaders are selectively targeted to destroy their reputation,” tweeted the Congress’ Jairam Ramesh this evening. Earlier, the Delhi unit of the Congress, which is in direct competition with the Aam Aadmi Party, has supported the arrest and said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal should be arrested next as he is the “mastermind” of the alleged liquor scam.
