CBI has summoned Delhi Deputy CM Sisodia to its headquarters today at 11 am in relation to his alleged role in the now scrapped Delhi liquor policy excise scam.
As the time for Delhi deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to visit the CBI office is closing in, the tensions over his enquiry seems spilling over the streets. While the security has been tightened outside Sisodia’s house, Aam Admi Party (AAP) MLAs Durgesh Pathak and Kuldeep Kumar have already reached his place to meet the leader, reported the India Today.
Sisodia arrived at the agency headquarters around 11.15 am and was taken straight to the first floor of the Anti Corruption Branch, they said. After completing the necessary formalities, he was subjected to questioning about Delhi government's excise policy, his relations with other accused named in the FIR and documents recovered during searches in the case, the officials said.
While connecting the summon to the Gujarat elections, the deputy CM said that he might be arrested in a fake case to stop him from campaigning in Gujarat. In a tweet he said, “I was to go to Gujarat for the election campaign in the coming days. Their purpose is to stop me from going to the Gujarat election campaign. The BJP is scared because it knows it's losing Gujarat.”
However, flexing the confidence of the party in the outcomes of the Gujarat polls, Sisodia added, “But my going to jail will not stop the Gujarat election campaign.”
In a video that he shared in twitter before leaving for the CBI office, the Deputy CM could be seen touching his mother’s feet seeking blessings for the day. A large number of his supporters gathered outside his residence and joined him on the way to the CBI office.
Earlier in a tweet, Sisodia said, “CBI raid was conducted at my house for 14 hours, nothing came out. Searched my bank locker, nothing came out in it. They did not find anything in my village. Now they have called me to CBI Headquarters at 11 am tomorrow. I will go and give my full cooperation. Satyameva Jayate.”
Reacting strongly to the summon, the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that his fight with the BJP is seemingly the second freedom struggle where leaders like Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain can be compared with Bhagat Singh.
In a tweet, the CM said, “Jail bars and hanging noose could not deter Bhagat Singh's resolute intentions. This is the second fight for freedom. Manish and Satyendra are today's Bhagat Singh. After 75 years, the country got an education minister who gave good education to the poor and gave hope for a bright future. Prayers of crores of poor are with you.”
Echoing Sisodia’s voice regarding the Gujarat elections, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said, “I can say this with confidence and responsibility that we are all certain that Manish Sisodia will be arrested at the behest of BJP by the CBI being controlled by their Central Government.”
Terming Kejriwal the ‘kingpin’ of the scam, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said, “Arvind Kejriwal these days compare himself to god and his ministers with freedom fighters. Kejriwal should be ashamed to do so as his corrupt ministers are filling his coffers while Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for country.”
The BJP leader while putting the major responsibilities of corruption on Kejriwal said that he shouldn’t give anyone the character certificate. Responding to the fear of AAP that Sisodia might be arrested, he added, “If you are so much scared of probe agencies, then you should not have done corruption. Sisodia is less a deputy chief minister and more a corrupt collection agent of Kejriwal.”
Discarding the claims that the action of the central agency has been motivated purportedly for Gujarat elections, Bhatia said that the performance of AAP in most of the states has been dismal and people have often rejected them.
Notably, the CBI has questioned a number of people, including Sameer Mahandru, the owner of Indo Spirits, Amit Arora, the director of Buddy Retail Private Limited in Gurugram, and India Ahead News managing director Mootha Gautam, in connection with the case.
The agency has arrested Vijay Nair, an AAP worker and a former CEO of Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company, and Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinpally, whose partner Arun Pillai has been named as an accused in the CBI FIR.
Meanwhile, the BJP on Monday dubbed the Aam Aadmi Party as the "biggest corrupt party" after Manish Sisodia appeared for questioning before the CBI in the excise policy case.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the AAP was formed with a pledge to fight corruption but it turned out to be the "biggest corrupt party".
"AAP is a biggest gimmick party. It was formed to fight corruption and its leaders turned out to be be diehard corrupt," Patra charged.
He also said Sisodia was raising slogans in the car while going to the CBI office as if the party "had won the world cup on corruption".
The CBI had registered an FIR in a special court here in August against Sisodia and 14 others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 477A (falsification of records), and section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which deals with taking undue advantage to influence a public servant by corrupt or illegal means, or by the exercise of personal influence.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi excise policy, which was brought out in November last year, the officials said.
The FIR has flagged payments in crores allegedly made to "close associates" of Sisodia by Sameer Mahendru -- the owner of Indospirits -- one of the liquor traders actively involved in irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy.
The FIR alleged that Sisodia's "close associates" Amit Arora, the director of Buddy Retail Pvt. Limited in Gurugram, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey were "actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees" for the accused public servants.
(With inputs from PTI)