International Desk

New Delhi (India): The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday evening.

According to officials he was nabbed in connection with alleged corruption while implementing the state's excise policy for 2021-22.

The Aam Aadmi Party meanwhile insists that the charges are 'false'. As the Deputy CM appeared for questioning, several AAP leaders had predicted that Sisodia would be arrested by the CBI today. The police had also detained around 50 people - including AAP MP Sanjay Singh and Rai - for protesting near the CBI office during the day.

"The AAP is a staunchly honest party and the BJP's fear was visible to everyone today. The whole country saw that the BJP is afraid of the increasing popularity of Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party in the country," party leader Atishi alleged.

What are the charges against Manish Sisodia?

Sisodia is one of the primary accused in the CBI FIR for the Delhi excise policy ‘scam’. The now withdrawn Delhi government policy to grant licences to liquor traders had allegedly favoured certain dealers who paid bribes.

According to a report by the Delhi chief secretary, Sisodia undertook major decisions and actions that were 'in violation of the statutory provisions and the notified excise policy that had huge financial implications'. Following this report, a CBI probe was recommended.

The ED and CBI have since registered cases alleging that irregularities were committed while modifying the Excise Policy.

The charges include granting undue favours to license holders, waiver or reduction of license fee and extension of L-1 license without the competent authority's approval. The probe agencies alleged that beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.

The CBI has however not named Sisodia in the charge sheet as the central probe agency kept the probe open against him and other suspects and accused.

Officials arrested him today after eight hours of questioning. According to reports citing the Anti-Corruption Branch, he had been questioned about various aspects of the Excise policy, his alleged link with Dinesh Arora (purportedly a close associate) and other accused in the FIR, and details of message exchanges from multiple phones among others.

The CBI investigators allege that he arrested because he was not cooperating with the investigation and avoiding clarifications on crucial points sought by them.

Source: livemint.com