Manish Sisodia sent to CBI custody till March 4; AAP to continue protests

A special CBI court on Monday remanded Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in five-day custody of the central probe agency till March 4. Special judge M K Nagpal allowed the CBI’s plea for the custodial interrogation of Sisodia.

The court asked CBI to produce Sisodia at 2 pom on March 4, after the completion of the five-day custody.

Earlier in the day, the court had reserved its order on the plea after hearing arguments from the CBI and Sisodia’s counsel.

Also read: How probe agencies built their case against Manish Sisodia

Sisodia, arrested in connection with the liquor excise policy case on Sunday, reached the special CBI Court at Rouse Avenue around 3.15 pm on Monday (February 27). Since morning, workers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) launched a nationwide protest against his arrest.

CBI’s argument

While seeking a five-day remand for Sisodia, the CBI counsel argued in court that a “conspiracy was hatched in a very planned and secret manner.” Opposing the remand application, Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan said, “If someone is not willing to say something, that cannot be a ground for arrest.”

Sisodia’s counsel also argued that changing cell phones was not a crime, after the CBI accused that the AAP leader changed phones to destroy evidence. Senior Advocate Krishnan argued that there was no evidence against Sisodia. After hearing both sides, the court reserved the order.

Sisodia was arrested after eight hours of interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday (February 26).

Tight security

Since Monday morning, security was tightened in and around Delhi in view of the protests and ahead of Sisodia’s appearance before the court. The entire stretch from ITO metro station Gate No. 2 to BJP Headquarters (Pandit Deendayal Upadhayay Marg) was cordoned off. Massive deployment of Delhi Police personnel was made along the stretch.

Also read: Manish Sisodia: The deputy more often in news than his leader

Earlier in the day, AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that CBI officers were against Sisodia’s arrest but had no other alternative than arrest him as they had to “obey their political masters” and were under immense pressure.

Delhi liquor policy case

The senior AAP leader’s arrest is related to alleged corruption in the implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy for 2021-22. It is alleged that the Delhi government’s policy to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who allegedly paid bribes for it. The AAP has strongly denied the charge.

The officials of the Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI grilled the minister on various aspects of the excise policy, his alleged link with Dinesh Arora and other accused in the FIR, and details of message exchanges from multiple phones among others, reported news agency PTI.

News agency IANS quoted sources as saying that Sisodia was involved in the excise policy scam as the mastermind. The quoted sources also accused him of destroying evidence.

The CBI had earlier questioned Sisodia on October 17, a month before filing the charge sheet on November 25. However, the CBI did not name Sisodia in it because it apparently kept the probe open against him and the other accused.

However, during Sunday’s questioning, the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch investigators were reportedly not satisfied with Sisodia’s responses. They reportedly felt he was not cooperating with them and was avoiding clarifications they sought on crucial points, which led them to arrest him.