BJP Slams AAP's 'Drama, Anarchy' Over Manish Sisodia's Arrest, Says CBI Acting Lawfully

Delhi Excise Policy Case: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has been sent to five-day CBI remand in the excise policy case to allow the agency to get "genuine and legitimate" answers to questions being put to him for "a proper and fair investigation".

New Delhi: Dismissing the opposition’s charge of “political vendetta”, the BJP has hit out at the AAP for protesting against the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, asserting that the CBI is acting lawfully against the "corrupt" but it seems that the city`s ruling party does not believe in law, Constitution and people. Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia said, "With its ‘drama’ and show of ‘anarchy’, the AAP has signalled that it will not let probe agencies do their work which amounts to obstructing the process of justice and contempt of court."

Bhatia described the AAP as "Arajak Apradh Party" (anarchic criminal party) and said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seems to have taken oath on the Constitution to destroy it. He further said, "Neither does Kejriwal abide by law nor he sacks his ministers involved in corruption. Jain has not received bail yet because courts believe that the charges against him are serious."

Sisodia Sent To 5-Day CBI Custody 

A special court here on Monday sent Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to five-day CBI remand in the excise policy case to allow the agency to get "genuine and legitimate" answers to questions being put to him for "a proper and fair investigation".

Special judge M K Nagpal passed the order on a CBI plea, which produced the AAP leader before the court amid heavy security in and outside the Rouse Avenue Courts premises a day after arresting him. The agency had sought his five-day custodial interrogation.

The judge said that though the accused had joined the investigation of this case on two earlier occasions, it has also been observed that he has failed to provide satisfactory answers to most of the questions put to him during his examination and interrogation. Thus, he has failed to legitimately explain the incriminating evidence which has allegedly surfaced against him during the investigation conducted so far.

It is true that he cannot be expected to make self-incriminating statements, but the interests of justice and of a fair investigation require him to come up with some legitimate answers to the questions which are being put to him by the investigating officer (IO). "Some of his subordinates are found to have disclosed certain facts which can be taken as incriminating against him and some documentary evidence against him has also already surfaced...

"... A proper and fair investigation requires that some genuine and legitimate answers to the questions being put to him about the same are to be found and hence, in considered opinion of this court, this can only be done during custodial interrogation of the accused," the judge said. "Keeping in view the facts and circumstances, the accused is being remanded to CBI custody for a period of 05 days i.E. Till March 4, 2023, for his further and extensive interrogation," the judge said.

He added that as far as the apprehensions being expressed by senior counsels regarding the use of any force or third-degree methods for extracting information from the accused are concerned, "this court does not expect the same from the officers of CBI who have been given the task of interrogating the accused holding the high post of Dy. Chief Minister of the GNCTD and also some other important portfolios". In any case, such apprehensions can always be taken care of by imposing certain conditions, the judge said.

Manish Sisodia's Arrest

The CBI on Sunday evening arrested Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22.

During the hearing, which went on for over an hour, Sisodia's counsel said that it was the lieutenant governor who had approved the changes in the excise policy and that the central probe agency was going after the elected government. "I can't do anything. It has to be approved by the appropriate authority," he said.

CBI Has No Evidence, Claims Sisodia

Sisodia claimed that there was no evidence against him and opposed the CBI's plea for his remand. "I (Sisodia) am the finance minister. I have to present the budget.... What changed yesterday that the finance minister was to be placed under custody? Was he not available for the next days? Or was this arrest done for an ulterior motives? This case is an assault on an individual as well as the institution. Remand will send a message, this is a fit case for declining remand," Sisodia's counsel told the court.

He submitted that Sisodia acted as a member of the Delhi government and hence the decision can neither be attributed to him nor questioned. The CBI counsel submitted that Sisodia's custody was required for effective interrogation in the case. Sisodia claimed that he had no role in the case but the probe showed he personally took decisions, the agency submitted.

Sisodia's counsel, while opposing the probe agency's plea for custody, submitted that the CBI says he changed his cell phones, but that is not a crime. The counsel said the policy was implemented after taking suggestions even from the Delhi lieutenant governor and that since it required consultations, there was no chance of conspiracy.

Sisodia was represented by senior advocates Dayan Krishnan, Mohit Mathur and Siddharth Aggarwal. The CBI informed the court that further investigation is underway in the case. Earlier this month, the agency had interrogated Delhi minister Satyendar Jain in Tihar Jail in connection with the case after taking permission from the judge.

Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. He is not an accused in the excise policy case. The CBI had also quizzed AAP's communication in-charge Vijay Nair, who is also lodged in Tihar Jail, in connection with the excise policy money laundering case being probed by the ED. Nair was earlier granted bail in the CBI excise policy case by the court.

(With Agency Inputs)