Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who has been summoned by the CBI in the liquor policy case, on Monday said that the liquor policy case against him is “fake”.
Speaking to the media at his residence, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader claimed that the agency wanted to arrest him to keep him out of the upcoming Gujarat elections.
“They are preparing to arrest me by framing me in a fake case. I was to go to Gujarat for election campaign in the coming days,” he said, claiming that the action is aimed to deter AAP’s prospects in the Gujarat elections.
He said: “These people (BJP) are losing Gujarat badly. Their purpose is to stop me from campaigning in Gujarat elections.”
“When I went to Gujarat, I told the people of Gujarat that we will build wonderful schools like Delhi for your children in Gujarat too. People are very happy. But these people do not want good schools to be built in Gujarat as well,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC around Sisodia’s residence in Central Delhi in anticipation of a protest by the AAP.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has already conducted searches at his residence and around 100 more locations linked to other accused in the case.
Three people including AAP communication in charge Vijay Nair have been arrested so far.
Sisodia has claimed that the agency found nothing in searches at his residence.
His boss, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also came out in Sisodia’s support. He also linked the CBI action with the Gujarat election.
“Nothing was found in raids at Manish’s residence and bank locker. The case against him is totally false. He had to go to Gujarat for the election campaign. They are arresting him to keep him out of Gujarat, the AAP chief tweeted.
Besides Sisodia, the CBI has named Nair and three public servants – then excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna; then deputy excise commissioner Anand Tiwari and assistant commissioner (excise) Pankaj Bhatnagar.
Some private persons, including Sameer Mahendru, MD of Indospirits; Manoj Rai, a former employee of Lucknow-based Pernod Ricard; Amit Arora, director of Gurgaon-based Buddy Retail Private Limited; Dinesh Arora, Delhi-based Mahadev Liquors; Sunny Marwah, authorised signatory of Mahadev Liquors; Arun Ramchandra Pillai of Karnataka’s Bangalore and Arjun Pandey of Gurgaon, have also been named in the CBI FIR.