NEW DELHI: Amidst fresh apprehensions that he might get arrested, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia reached the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation in New Delhi around 11.15 am, to answer questions of the federal agency which is probing the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 scam in which an allegedly erroneous policy was enforced by the AAP Government that caused losses to the Delhi Government and benefitted liquor traders through a planned conspiracy.
Sisodia who is accused number 1 along with 14 others in the FIR registered pertaining to the scam last year, told reporters on Sunday before heading to CBI headquarters that he doesn't care if he has to stay in jail for a few months. In his tweet, the Delhi Deputy CM said “Going to the CBI today again. Will cooperate fully in the entire investigation. The love of lakhs of children and the blessings of crores of countrymen are with us. I don't care if I have to stay in jail for a few months,”.
On February 19, he skipped CBI summon for questioning apprehending arrest and had sought more time from the agency, citing that he was in the midst of finalising the budget for Delhi and the draft is at a very crucial stage. The CBI has summoned Sisodia for the second time in connection with the ongoing investigations of corruption in the Delhi Excise Policy, which was allegedly ‘tweaked’ to benefit liquor traders that resulted in losses to the tune of Rs 2873 crores to the Delhi Government.
Sisodia seeking time on February 19 told reporters that if he gets arrested, the public of Delhi and the government employees will suffer as he is the finance minister of Delhi and needs to finalise the Budget. Sisodia tweeted last Sunday before taking a decision to skip questioning wake of the Delhi Budget planning. He said “They have deployed the full forces of the CBI and the ED (Enforcement Directorate) against me; raided my house, searched my bank locker, yet they found nothing. I have made arrangements to ensure good education for the children of Delhi. They want to stop it. I have always cooperated with the investigation and will continue to do so.”
This is the second occasion that the CBI has asked Sisodia to make himself available at the agency’s headquarters in New Delhi to answer queries related to the Delhi excise scam. He was summoned last year (2022) on October 17. During this, he was questioned for almost 9 hours. The CBI sleuth also paid a recent visit to Sisodia’s office at Delhi Secretariat on January 14, “to gather certain information”.
Sisodia's questioning comes close to the heels of the arrest of a Hyderabad-based chartered accountant Butchibabu Gorantla by the CBI, for his alleged role in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 which according to CBI caused wrongful gain to Hyderabad-based wholesale and retail licensees and their beneficial owners under the Delhi Excise Policy resulting in huge losses to the Delhi exchequer.
According to CBI sources, Gorantla earlier had professional associations K Kavitha, daughter of Telangana CM KC Rao. Kavitha was also questioned by the CBI in December last year for nearly 7 hours in connection with the case.
The CBI registered the Delhi Excise scam case in August last year against Sisodia and 14 others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 477A (falsification of records), and section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The FIR was lodged after Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. Sisodia, in charge of the excise department at the relevant period when the policy was formulated and implemented.
It was alleged that the policy, which was brought into effect in November 2021, was influenced at the formulation stage to benefit certain businessmen, liquor distributors and traders. Following the registration of the case the Delhi government had withdrawn the policy with effect from 31 July 2022.
So far the CBI has filed one chargesheet in the case on November 25, 2022 and named seven accused, including two officials of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) and five persons were named in relation to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy.
Those named are Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun R Pillai, Mootha Gautham, Sameer Mahendru, Kuldeep Singh, who was the then deputy commissioner, Excise and Narender Singh, the then asst. commissioner of Delhi’s Excise Department.