Excise policy probe: Manish Sisodia sent to CBI custody for 5 days

The CBI is investigating alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

Sisodia was produced before Special Judge M K Nagpal, who allowed the CBI’s plea for his custodial interrogation. The Judge observed that even if Sisodia had joined the investigation on two occasions, he had “failed to provide satisfactory answers to most of the questions put to him during his examination and interrogation”.

Sisodia being taken away from the court. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

“It is true that he cannot be expected to make self-incriminating statements, but the interests of justice and of a fair investigation require that he should come up with some legitimate answers to the questions which are being put to him by the IO,” the court said.

It noted that some of his “subordinates are found to have disclosed certain facts which can be taken as incriminating against him, and some documentary evidence against him has also already surfaced, and a proper and fair investigation requires some genuine and legitimate answers to the questions being put to him”.

Sisodia is set to be interrogated under CCTV coverage to allay fears of his lawyers that he may be subjected to third degree methods. He will be medically examined every 24 hours, allowed to meet his lawyers from 6-7 pm, and his wife for 15 minutes during the same hour.

The CBI has told the court that its investigation has revealed that Sisodia “played an active role in commission of the alleged offences as he, being the Excise Minister, had manipulated certain changes in the Cabinet note which was prepared on draft policy” with “ulterior motives and designs” to help some “stakeholders of the excise policy in achieving the illegal objective of cartelisation” in the sale of liquor in Delhi.

The agency said this was done because the ‘South Group’, comprising individuals identified as YSRCP MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Raghav Magunta, Sarath Reddy and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha, paid kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore.

Special Public Prosecutor Pankaj Gupta, who filed the CBI plea, said that Sisodia was “not cooperating with the investigation and concealing true facts even after being confronted with evidence.”

“Conspiracy was hatched in a secret manner. Interrogation is required for effective investigation,” Gupta said. He said Sisodia was the excise minister when the policy was drafted and “no discussion was held” on the wholesale profit margin for private players.

Gupta said Sisodia had “not been able to explain” the increase in wholesale profit margin from 5% (under the old policy) to 12%. Alleging destruction of digital evidence, the agency also claimed that Sisodia had “changed his phone multiple times”.

Sisodia was represented by senior advocates Dayan Krishnan, Mohit Mathur and Siddharth Aggarwal.

Krishnan said the CBI’s allegations pertain to the period before the excise policy was cleared, adding that the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor had cleared the policy in May 2021. “They say I (Sisodia) changed my phone… am I supposed to anticipate a case against me in future,” he said.

The CBI had told the court that AAP communications in-charge Vijay Nair, who was arrested last September, had met some liquor manufacturers at a hotel in Delhi. It had also alleged that some members of the ‘South Group’ had visited Delhi two-three times to discuss and tweak the excise policy.

“They say Vijay Nair was having meeting with liquor manufacturers. WhatsApp chats recovered from South Group show they made visits for tweaking the policy. Which messages, what meeting is related to me… how am I (Sisodia) in this,” Krishnan told the court. On allegations that Sisodia could not explain the sudden increase in profit margin, Krishnan said: “Is it a ground for remand?”

Responding to the CBI’s claim that Sisodia was not cooperating with the investigation, Krishnan said: “There is a presumption of innocence. There cannot be self-incrimination… giving remand on this is a travesty. Somebody is not answering to your satisfaction.”

“Suggestions were given by L-G and incorporated in the policy. It was an aspect which required discussion and deliberation and, under such circumstances, there is no room for conspiracy,” senior advocate Mohit Mathur told the court.

Mathur told the court that although the excise policy was a state subject, the AAP government still approached the L-G. “Today, an investigating officer (IO) wants to go behind what an elected government wants to do, and a constitutional functionary approves it,” he said.

“Non-cooperation is their common refrain. In the chargesheet, you did not find anything, and now you want people to be added in the supplementary chargesheet,” said Mathur.

Senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal questioned the timing of the arrest. “I (Sisodia) am the finance minister. I have to present the Budget. What was changing yesterday that the finance minister was to be placed under custody. Was he not available for the next days,” he told the court. “Or was this arrest done for ulterior motive? This case is assault to an individual as well as the institution.”

Sisodia was arrested on Sunday after an eight-hour questioning session by the CBI.

Protesting against his arrest, AAP leaders and supporters held demonstrations near the BJP headquarters in the Capital on Monday. Police had barricaded the road leading to the BJP office, which is near the AAP’s office.

Addressing a press conference later, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said: “A dictatorial government has jailed the best education minister, a minister who has worked to give the children in Delhi a brighter future… They found no proof against him, they raided his house and office, they went to his village, checked his bank locker but couldn’t find anything. The Modi government that works for Adani, which is embroiled in scams of lakhs of crores, has done this to divert attention from its scams.”

On July 8 last year, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar had submitted a report to the L-G’s office, alleging procedural lapses in the new excise policy and claiming that post-tender benefits were extended to the licencees. The L-G had then recommended a CBI probe.

As the controversy around the new liquor policy – meant to remove government intervention and completely privatise Delhi’s liquor business – gathered momentum, Sisodia, on July 30 last year, had announced the return to the old excise policy, saying only government liquor vends would be allowed to operate.0

On August 17, the CBI filed an FIR in the case, and two days later, raided 21 locations in Delhi, including Sisodia’s house. Sisodia is among 15 booked in the CBI FIR – the others being three excise department officials and several vendors and distributors.

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Earlier this month, the ED also filed a supplementary chargesheet over alleged irregularities in the excise policy. It claimed that the policy was created by top AAP leaders to generate and channel illegal funds to themselves.