They Will Keep Sisodia In Jail Till Gujarat Poll Verdict, Kejriwal Alleges As Dy CM Reaches CBI Office

Sisodia was summoned by the CBI on Sunday.

Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Monday, reached the CBI headquarters for questioning in the excise policy case, news agency ANI reported.

Sisodia was summoned by the CBI on Sunday. "I will go and fully cooperate with the CBI as it has called me to the headquarters at 11 am tomorrow after raiding my house for 14 hours and searching bank account and even my village where they could not find anything," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

Earlier In August, the enforcement directorate carried out searches on Sisodia's official residence besides several other places in connection with the alleged corruption in the implementation of Delhi's excise policy.

Reacting to the fresh summon issued to Sisodia, Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday that these people will keep Manish Sisodia in Jail till December 8 when the results of the Gujarat elections will be declared to stop him from going to Gujarat to campaign for the elections.

8 दिसंबर को गुजरात के नतीजे आयेंगे। ये लोग तब तक मनीष को जेल में रखेंगे। ताकि मनीष गुजरात चुनाव में प्रचार के लिए ना जा पायें।

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 17, 2022

“Gujarat results will be out on December 8. These people will keep Manish in jail till then. So that Manish does not go for campaigning in Gujarat elections,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

Sisodia, who is in charge of the excise department, has been under the scanner for alleged deliberate and gross procedural lapses which provided undue benefits to the tender process for liquor licensees for the year 2021-22.

Sisodia is believed to have executed decisions in violation of the statutory provisions of the Excise Policy, which could have huge financial implications. Such "undue financial favours" to the liquor licensees after the deadline for awarding tenders caused huge losses to the exchequer, sources earlier claimed.

The excise policy was passed in chief minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Cabinet in the middle of the deadly Delta Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. Sisodia was among 15 others booked in an FIR filed by the CBI in August including then Excise Commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar.

(With ANI Inputs)