The Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI) has arrested the Deputy CM of Delhi, Manish Sisodia on Sunday after eight hours of questioning due to the connections with the alleged Delhi Liquor Excise Policy case.
WHAT IS DELHI EXCISE CASE ON MANISH SISODIA?
Talking about the case, the excise policy was passed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejrival during the Covid 19 pandemic in 2021. This policy was formulated to ensure the generation of optimum revenue and eliminate the sale of spurious liquor or non-duty paid liquor in Delhi. It was alleged that the Delhi government’s policy of granting licenses to liquor traders was in the interest of some dealers who allegedly paid bribes for it.
Arvind Kejrival denied all the charges. The office of the Assistant Commissioner of Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) issued a notice to Delhi’s Excise Commissioner and asked for all the documents related to the liquor licenses under the new excise policy. On this Arvind Kejrival said, “First of all, there is no such thing as a liquor scam. We formulated the best and most transparent policy in the country. We implemented this policy in Punjab and the revenue increased by 48 per cent. All this is happening due to political conspiracy in Delhi.”
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Deputy CM Manish Sisodia was questioned for the liquor case last year on October 16 and his home and bank lockers were also searched in connection with the case when several raids were conducted at 21 places in Delhi and the National Capital Region. On 25 November 2022, CBI filed its chargesheet in Delhi excise date in which Manish Sisodia was not accused.
On February 18, CBI summoned Sisodia again but he asked the CBI to defer the questioning as he was busy in the preparations of the budget. So a new summon was issued which called him for questioning on 26 February 2023. The questioning went over for 8 hours after which he was arrested as his answers were not satisfactory. He was arrested under sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 477 A (intent to defraud) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Showing support for Manish Sisodia, Arvind Kejrival tweeted in which he wrote that God is with him and blessings of lakhs of people are with him.