Delhi Excise Policy Case: Manish Sisodia's CBI Custody Ends Today, To Be Produced In Court — 10 Points

Delhi Liquor Police Case: Former deputy CM Manish Sisodia will be produced before a court as his CBI custody ends on Monday.

Manish Sisodia taken in custody by CBI officials

Source : PTI

Delhi Excise Policy Case: The CBI custody of former deputy CM Manish Sisodia ends on Monday after a Delhi court extended his remand by 2 days on Saturday. Sisodia will be produced in the court in the afternoon. 

The AAP leader has spent a week in CBI’s remand after a court granted 2-day custody of Sisodia to CBI for his confrontation with two more material witnesses in the case. 

Here are the 10 facts from the story: 

1. AAP leader Manish Sisodia alleged mental harassment saying the CBI keeps asking him the same questions everyday during the ongoing investigation in the excise policy scam case. He said during the court proceedings on Saturday, “Every day from 8 am they keep asking the same questions. Documents don’t exist. They are making me sit for as long as 9-10 hours. It is not less than mental harassment.” 

2. The court on Saturday extended by two days the CBI custody of Manish Sisodia to confront him with material witnesses. The agency had sought an extension of 3 days. Special judge M K Nagpal also directed the CBI not to ask him the same questions repeatedly after Sisodia termed it as "mental harassment". He told the probe agency to not ask the "same questions again and again". "If you have something new, ask him," Nagpal said. 

3. The judge, however, said that it is desired that during this period, the investigating officer will complete all the above confrontation exercise and also the examination and interrogation of the accused for the above said purposes. 

4. AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Sunday that Manish Sisodia is being "mentally tortured" in jail and the people there are pressurising him to sign a false confession. He said in a press conference, "Manish Sisodia ji stated this in the CBI Trial Court yesterday. This had also been brought to the attention of the court. Because the CBI lacks evidence, they are torturing." 

5. Sisodia also filed a bail plea before the court saying no fruitful purpose would be served by keeping him in custody as all the recoveries have already been made. He added that the other accused persons arrested in this case have already been granted bail. He asserted that he had held an important constitutional post of deputy chief minister of Delhi, and had deep roots in society. 

6. The court issued notice to the CBI on Sisodia's bail plea and directed it to file a reply by March 10, when it will hear the arguments on the application, reported PTI. 

7. His bail application comes after the Supreme Court earlier this week refused to entertain his plea challenging his arrest by CBI. Sisodia resigned from all posts in the Delhi cabinet on Tuesday, hours after the apex court junked his plea. 

8. The CBI has confronted Sisodia with two critical witnesses during his 5-day custody. It will further confront the AAP leader with two more important witnesses whose identity has not been disclosed yet, and this is the reason why the central agency sought more time to question Sisodia. 

9. The two witnesses CBI has conducted Sisodia’s questioning face to face are his former secretary C Arvind and then Excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna. The agency said that Sisodia’s "attitude and behaviour" during these confrontations were uncooperative and evasive when confronted with Arvind and Krishna. 

10. Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI in connection with alleged corruption in the now-withdrawn Delhi liquor policy. As per CBI, the arrest was made after Sisodia didn’t cooperate in the investigation and avoided clarifications sought by them.