Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday claimed his deputy Manish Sisodia will be framed in a “fake case” by the Central Bureau of Investigation and arrested in a few days. His remarks came after Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 over alleged violations of rules.
Sisodia heads the Excise department of the Delhi government. In an online press briefing, Kejriwal also said that he has known Sisodia for 22 years and he is a “hardcore honest” man.
He further said: “I came to know that a case has been sent to the CBI against Manish Sisodia and they are going to arrest him in a few days. It is a completely fake case. There is not even an iota of truth in this case.”
The chief minister said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders are not afraid of going to jail as they have done nothing wrong.
Party spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said Modi and his party are “jealous” of Kejriwal and AAP’s recent electoral successes. “We knew that BJP and PM Modi were nervous after AAP’s victory in Punjab,” Bhardwaj said. He added that the Centre had made all possible efforts to try to stop Arvind Kejriwal from working in Delhi 2016, and is doing the same again.
The CBI inquiry was recommended on Delhi Chief Secretary’s report filed earlier this month, showing prima facie violations of GNCTD Act 1991, Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR)-1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009 and Delhi Excise Rules-2010, officials said.
The LG has found “substantive indications” of “financial quid pro quo” at the “top political level” wherein the excise minister “took and got executed major decisions in violation of the statutory provisions” and notified the Excise Policy that had “huge financial implications”, according to sources.