Investigative agency CBI arrests Deputy Prime Minister of Delhi on suspicion of cheating liquor policy.
India’s Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested its top minister on suspicion of liquor policy irregularities in the New Delhi metropolitan area. This is the most high-profile arrest in the case to date.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Delhi government, Manish Sisodia, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) late Sunday night after nearly eight hours of interrogation. He appeared in district court on Monday.
Sisodia was arrested in an ongoing investigation in “a case related to alleged misconduct in the framework and implementation of excise tax policy,” the CBI said in a release.
“He gave an evasive reply and did not cooperate. [with] “We are conducting an investigation despite facing evidence to the contrary.” “Therefore he was arrested.”
#clock | | Aam Aadmi party workers protest arrest of Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in connection with liquor policy case in Delhi pic.twitter.com/BkZjcmMqPF
— Ani (@ANI) February 27, 2023
An Indian agency is investigating alleged misconduct in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s liquor policy in a federal report last July. This is because it suggests that the policy benefits private liquor retailers by offering discounts at the cost of the state treasury.
This policy has since been withdrawn.
India’s anti-financial crimes agency, the Law Enforcement Department, is separately investigating French liquor giant Pernod Ricard for violating the same liquor policy.
“Manish Sisodia was arrested not only for his role in the liquor scam, but also for the destruction of evidence. All will be punished,” said Manoj Tiwari, a member of parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
But the AAP, which had anticipated Sisodia’s arrest, said the move was due to a “political confrontation” and was a “fake affair”. tweeted after his arrest.
The AAP denied any wrongdoing by Sisodia and said his arrest was a political retaliation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The Communist Party has threatened protests in the capital and other regions over the arrests.
“Manish is innocent. His arrest is dirty politics,” Arvind Kejriwal, prime minister of Delhi and head of the AAP, said in a tweet.
“Manish’s arrest has generated a lot of anger among people. People are watching everything. People will react to this,” Kejriwal wrote. “This lifts our spirits. Our struggle will be stronger.”
Sisodia is also the party’s deputy commander-in-chief and has helped extend the AAP’s influence to other states as the party seeks to wrest control of key states from the BJP in the upcoming elections.
Apart from Delhi, the decade-old AAP also controls the western state of Punjab.