Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is scheduled to appear for questioning on Sunday morning after fresh summons were issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the excise policy case.
The summons come after a notice was issued to the AAP leader on February 19, but upon his request the CBI questioning was deferred. Sisodia who holds the finance portfolio for the Kejriwal-led Delhi government, cited the ongoing budget exercise for his inability to appear before the probe agency.
Heavy security was deployed outside the residence of Deputy CM Sisodia ahead of his questioning by CBI. Heavy Delhi Police and para military deployment outside CBI headquarters as well.
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Several AAP leaders including Atishi arrived at the Rajghat as a sign of protest against the CBI case.
Sisodia tweeted confirming that he would be going for the CBI questioning today and said he will cooperate fully in the entire investigation.
“The love of lakhs of children and the blessings of crores of countrymen are with us. I don’t care if I have to stay in jail for a few months. We are followers of Bhagat Singh who sacrificed himself for the country. It is a small thing to go to jail because of such false allegations,” Sisodia said in Hindi.
CBI’s Ready With ‘Exhaustive Questionnaire’
According to PTI, the CBI has said that it has prepared an exhaustive set of questions for Sisodia on Sunday amid apprehensions of his arrest. “They are using the CBI to take revenge and I am sure they will do that by getting me arrested,” Sisodia alleged.
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Armed with confessional statements of Sisodia’s “close associate” Dinesh Arora, and information gleaned from questioning of alleged members of ‘South Lobby’, a coterie of politicians and liquor businessmen who allegedly swung the policy in their favour, the CBI has prepared an elaborate questionnaire for him, the officials told PTI.
The CBI had registered an FIR in August last year 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.
The federal agency has alleged the Delhi government’s policy to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.
Sisodia, AAP Allege ‘Revenge’ by BJP
Sisodia and his Aam Aadmi Party have maintained that the dupty CM’s innocence and have repeatedly alleged that the BJP is using the probe agency to take “revenge” and expressed apprehension of his arrest.
Sisodia was earlier questioned by the CBI on October 17 last year and his home and bank lockers were also searched in connection with the case.
Earlier this week, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant and close aide – Bibhav Kumar was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy in a money laundering case, according to officials.
The ED is investigating the alleged money laundering based on the FIR filed by the CBI.
During its probe into the money trail and links between liquor traders, AAP leaders, middlemen and politicians, the CBI has gathered elaborate materials on which it needs clarifications from Sisodia who is the prime accused in the FIR, officials said.
The agency had filed its first charge sheet against seven people on November 25 last year in which Sisodia was not named as an accused.
(With PTI Inputs)
