The Central Bureau of Investigation on Sunday arrested Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, after eight hours of questioning him, in connection with alleged corruption in the implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22. Sisodia who is the second Aam Aadmi Party leader after Satyender Jain to get arrested on corruption charges will be produced in the court on Monday.
Sisodia, who heads 18 departments of the Delhi government is central to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s politics. He was also being probed for his alleged creation of a ‘feedback unit' to collect political intelligence against the AAP's rivals. The home ministry last week granted sanction to prosecute Sisodia in the second case. The CBI had previously called Sisodia for questioning on February 19 but Sisodia who is also Delhi's Finance Minister, however, sought a week's time for making the Delhi Budget, and the CBI had agreed to his request.
On Sunday, Sisodia arrived at the CBI headquarters around 11 am for the second round of questioning. He was earlier questioned by the CBI in October last year, a month before the agency filed its charge sheet. 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, officials said.
Sisodia addressing his supporters gave an emotional speech in the morning said, “I want to tell Kejriwal ji, aap chaalu rakhiye….logon ke liye aise hi ladte rahiye.. Modi ji, who is not even scared of Rahul Gandhi, is scared of only one party — that is AAP! They will put me in jail…. but we are not afraid, we will fight. Kejriwal is the only future of this country.”
“I can go to jail a number of times and I am not afraid. When I left my job as a journalist, my wife supported me and even today, my family is standing by my side. My workers will take care of my family if I get arrested,” he added. He also visited Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Delhi's Rajghat.
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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted his support for Sisodia. "God is with you, Manish. The blessings of lakhs of children and their parents are with you. When you go to jail for the country and society, it is not a curse, it is a glory. I pray to God that you return from jail soon. Children, parents and all of us in Delhi will be waiting for you," he tweeted.
Sisodia and others face corruption allegations in bringing a new liquor sale policy in the national capital. Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had ordered the CBI probe last year, but the Delhi government reverted to the old liquor policy and blamed the LG for loss of revenue worth crores of rupees.
The BJP has been demanding Sisodia's arrest and had said the Delhi government went back to the old liquor sale policy to cover up corruption in the excise department held by Sisodia. The party accused the AAP of using the money to fund its elections in Punjab and Gujarat.
The CBI has said it was focusing on the alleged influence of a "South Lobby" of businessmen and politicians making the Delhi liquor policy to swing in their favour using middlemen, traders and bureaucrats. Recently, the body also arrested Butchibabu Gorantla, a former chartered accountant of BRS MLC K Kavitha, leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
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