New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will announce a fresh date for questioning of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case, after the minister put in a request for deferment of his interrogation Sunday.
Senior AAP leader Sisodia, who is also the Delhi finance minister and who was summoned for questioning by the CBI Saturday, has reportedly sought a week’s time for appearing before the agency.
The CBI is investigating the alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy, implemented in November 2021, after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena ordered a probe into it. The policy, which changed the way liquor was sold in the Capital, was withdrawn on July 31, 2022.
The agency had filed a chargesheet in the case about three months ago, in which it has not named Sisodia as an accused.
On Sunday, in a letter addressed to the CBI, Sisodia said he was prioritising preparing for the Delhi state budget and would visit the CBI office by the end of the month, whenever “they call me”.
He also linked the CBI summons to the Supreme Court’s Friday ruling on the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) mayoral polls, which he said was “a blow to the BJP”. He told the media: “If we look at the sequence of events, the SC gave its decision on the MCD polls on Friday evening, dealing a blow to the BJP. Just a day later on Saturday, I received CBI summons.”
On Saturday, Sisodia had accused the BJP-led central government on Twitter of “unleashing” the CBI and Enforcement Directorate “against me”. He asserted that the agencies raided his house, searched his bank locker and “yet found nothing against me”.
Delhi CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal also told a press conference Saturday that there was “no liquor scam”. He argued that Delhi’s excise policy was “transparent” and the same policy, when implemented in Punjab, where too the AAP is in power, had led to 48 per cent growth in excise revenue.
He too accused the central government of using the case as “political vendetta”.
BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana Sunday said Sisodia was “running away” from queries in the case.
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Allegations and arrests
The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-2022 marked the exit of the government from retail sales of alcohol and allowed private companies to bid for licences. Sisodia has been accused of deliberate and gross procedural lapses which provided undue benefits to the tender process for licences for the year 2021-22. It has also been alleged that the grant of liquor licences was done in the interest of some dealers who allegedly paid bribes for it.
According to the BJP, the policy allowed liquor shops near schools and places of worship.
The AAP has denied the charges. According to the Delhi government, the objective behind the policy was to increase government revenue, improve customer experience and end the liquor mafia.
Sisodia was first questioned by the CBI in the case on 17 October, 2022, and his house as well as bank lockers were searched.
In the course of the probe, 21 places in Delhi and NCR, including the residence of Sisodia and the premises of four public servants, have been raided by the CBI.
While Sisodia has not been named as an accused by the CBI, arrested businessmen Vijay Nair (AAP’s communication in-charge) and Abhishek Boinpally from Hyderabad are among the accused mentioned in the chargesheet.
On February 8, the CBI also arrested Butchi Babu Gorantla, a former chartered accountant of K Kavitha, leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and daughter of Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, in connection with the case.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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