New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu has accepted the resignations of jailed ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain with immediate effect, the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Tuesday.
Murmu also appointed MLAs Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj as ministers in the Delhi cabinet on the advice of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Their tenure comes into effect from the date they were sworn in, the Home Ministry communique said.
The former deputy chief minister was arrested on 26 February for alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the Delhi liquor policy, 2021-22 when he was also in charge of the finance portfolio.
The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested the AAP leader on 26 February and kept him in custody for seven days, following which a Delhi court sent Sisodia to jail till 20 March.
The CBI’s case against Sisodia and other AAP members is that they granted liquor licences to certain traders in exchange for bribes. The probe agency has also accused them of tweaking the excise policy for this.
The AAP has denied all allegations and maintains that Sisodia is innocent.
Former Delhi health and home minister Jain was arrested last May in connection with alleged hawala transactions related to a Kolkata-based company.
The CBI filed an FIR against Jain in 2017 in a money-laundering case.
Also read: Delhi court sends former deputy CM Manish Sisodia to jail till 20 March in liquor case