On Saturday, January 14, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted a raid at his office in connection with an alleged liquor policy scam. Contrary to Sisodia’s claims the probe agency has clarified that it has not raided Sisodia’s office at the Secretariat but visited to take his computer for investigation.
Citing CBI sources ANI reported that the probe agency has taken a computer from Sisodia’s office under section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
CBI has taken a computer from Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodiya’s office as part of ongoing investigations against him. There has been no raid on him: CBI sources
— ANI (@ANI) January 14, 2023
Earlier Sisodia had in a tweet claimed that CBI is conducting raids at his offices and that nothing will be found since he has not done anything wrong.
“Today again CBI has reached my office. They are welcome. They raided my house, raided my office, searched my locker, and they even searched my village. Nothing has been found against me and nothing will be found because I have not done anything wrong. Sincerely worked for the education of the children of Delhi,” Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.
आज फिर CBI मेरे दफ़्तर पहुँची है. उनका स्वागत है.
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) January 14, 2023
इन्होंने मेरे घर पर रेड कराई, दफ़्तर में छापा मारा, लॉकर तलशे, मेरे गाँव तक में छानबीन करा ली.मेरे ख़िलाफ़ न कुछ मिला हैं न मिलेगा क्योंकि मैंने कुछ ग़लत किया ही नहीं है. ईमानदारी से दिल्ली के बच्चों की शिक्षा के लिए काम किया है.
It is notable that Delhi Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia is under scanner over corruption charges in the now-scrapped liquor policy scam case.
According to the chief secretary’s report, cartelisation and monopolies were taking place in the liquor trade under the new liquor policy. It was also alleged that liquor licences were illegally distributed to companies that had violated the terms and conditions of the New Excise Policy 2021-22.
According to reports, Manish Sisodia made changes to the excise policy without the mandatory approval of the LG. He had waived off ₹144.36 crores on licence fees to be paid by the private liquor vendors for licences in the name of the Covid-19 pandemic. He had removed the import pass fee of ₹50 per case of beer and had given undue benefits to liquor sellers by revising the prices of foreign liquor.
As per the FIR filed by CBI, L-1 licences were issued illegally in exchange for bribes, and one of the traders had paid ₹1 crore to a company managed by a person who is an associate of Manish Sisodia. It was found that L-1 licence holders were issuing credit notes to retail vendors with the intention of diverting the funds to public servants, showing that it was a method of paying bribes in exchange for the licences. The licence holders also made false entries in their books of accounts to keep the records of such bribes straight.
In August last year, CBI named Manish Sisodia, ex-Only Much Louder (OML) CEO Vijay Nair and 13 others in an FIR for irregularities in the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2020-2021. Following this, CBI conducted raids at multiple locations across 7 states.
Other than Sisodia, one more AAP Minister is faced with corruption charges. Delhi’s Health Minister who is currently lodged in Tihar jail is accused of money laundering. On May 30, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Satyendar Jain under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Satyendar Jain was charged with money laundering in August 2017 by the CBI. Based on the FIR made by the CBI, the ED initiated a criminal case against the AAP leader, alleging that Jain could not explain the source of income received by four firms in which he was a stakeholder. From 2010 to 2014, the firms allegedly laundered Rs 16.39 crores in cash.
