NEW DELHI: Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Monday extended the judicial custody of senior AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia by 14 days in connection with the liquor scam probe against him. Sisodia is presently on ED remand till March 22. The ED has so far arrested 12 people in the case, including former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia.
Sisodia is also facing a probe by the CBI in the Delhi liquor scam case. The CBI on Sunday deferred his questioning in connection with the case after he sought time from the probe agency citing the city government’s ongoing budget exercise.
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The agency had earlier asked Sisodia to appear for questioning on Sunday. The central probe agency accepted Sisodia’s application to defer the questioning and will give a new date soon, officials said. Sisodia on Sunday said the BJP was using the probe agency to take “revenge” on him and expressed apprehension that he would be arrested.
The Aam Admi Party leader, who was also the Finance minister in the Delhi government, said he would be available for questioning after a week. 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.
The agency had filed its first chargesheet against seven persons on November 25 last year in which Sisodia was not named as accused. The CBI has kept open the probe against Sisodia and other accused named in the FIR.
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Three months later, the agency said it has stumbled upon details of meetings, message exchanges and transactions on which explanation could be sought from the deputy chief minister, who held the charge of the Excise department.
The CBI is also armed with the concessional statement of Dinesh Arora, alleged to be Sisodia’s “close associate” who is understood to have spilled the beans about how the excise policy was allegedly swung in favour of some liquor traders and “South Lobby” of Hyderabad-based politicians and alcohol traders who are under the scanner of the agencies.
The deputy chief minister was earlier questioned on October 17 last year and his home and bank lockers were also searched in connection with the case. The CBI had also questioned BRS leader K Kavitha in connection with the case in December last year. During its probe, the CBI had found evidence that Butchibabu Gorantla, a former Chartered Accountant of K Kavitha, acted on behalf of the South Lobby comprising the Telangana MLC, YSRCP MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, and Aurobindo Pharma’s P Sarat Chandra Reddy.
It is alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP. The policy was subsequently scrapped and the Delhi Lieutenant Governor recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
