AAP Says Cop 'Misbehaved' With Manish Sisodia At Court; Delhi Police Reject Charge

AAP leader Manish Sisodia was on Tuesday produced before the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam.

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday alleged that a cop misbehaved with former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia at the Rouse Avenue court, a charge dismissed by the police. Sisodia was on Tuesday produced before the court in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise policy scam. 

Delhi Minister Atishi tweeted a video of the AAP leader being brought out of the courtroom and said, "Shocking misbehaviour by this policeman with Manish in Rouse Avenue Court. Delhi Police should suspend him immediately," she wrote.

Responding to Atishi's tweet, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal said, "Does the police have the right to misbehave with Manish Sisodia like this? Has the police been instructed to do this?"

क्या पुलिस को इस तरह मनीष जी के साथ दुर्व्यवहार करने का अधिकार है? क्या पुलिस को ऐसा करने के लिए ऊपर से कहा गया है? https://t.co/izPacU6SHI

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 23, 2023

Delhi Police, however, rejected the charge and said the cop's action shown in the video was necessary for security.

"The matter of policeman misbehaving with Manish Sisodia in Rouse Avenue Court is propaganda. The police response shown in the video was necessary from a security point of view. It is against the law for an accused in judicial custody to issue statements to the media," the Delhi Police said in a tweet in Hindi.

राउज एवेन्यू कोर्ट में पेशी के समय श्री मनीष सिसोदिया के साथ पुलिस दुर्व्यवहार की बात दुष्प्रचार है।

वीडियो में प्रचारित पुलिस की प्रतिक्रिया सुरक्षा की दृष्टि से अनिवार्य थी।

न्यायिक अभिरक्षा में अभियुक्त द्वारा मीडिया को वक्तव्य जारी करना विधि विरुद्ध है।#DelhiPoliceUpdates — Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) May 23, 2023

While Sisodia was being brought out of the courtroom, he told the media in reference to a bill to replace the Centre's Ordinance on Delhi's Services matter that Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'does not believe in democracy'.

"Modi has become very arrogant," he said.

Manish Sisodia's judicial custody extended

The Rouse Avenue court on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of Manish Sisodia till June 1 in a money laundering case related to the Delhi excise policy scam. The judge also directed the jail authorities to consider providing the former Delhi Minister with a chair and a table along with books inside the prison.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Sisodia for alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy and for laundering the money so generated. While CBI took him into custody on February 26 in a corruption case, the ED arrested him on March 9 in a money laundering case.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government implemented the excise policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.