New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed a supplementary chargesheet against former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and three others in the excise policy scam case.
Mr Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26.The agency filed the chargesheet on the 58th day, which may deny him the chance of getting default bail. In a case of corruption, the investigation agency must file a chargesheet against an accused within 60 days of arrest; otherwise, the person becomes eligible for default bail.
The Central probe agency has also named Hyderabad-based CA Butchi Babu Gorantla, liquor trader Amandeep Singh Dhall and private person Arjun Pandey in the supplementary chargesheet.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a supplementary charge-sheet against the then deputy chief minister of GNCTD, Delhi and three others, including a director of a private company based in New Delhi, before the designated court in an on-going investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of GNCTD, the agency said in a statement.
The case was registered on August 17 last year against Mr Sisodia, who was then the in-charge excise minister, and 14 others for investigation into the matter of alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy for the year 2021–22 and extending post-tender benefits to private persons.
“Searches were also conducted at the premises of the accused at several locations, including in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Bengaluru, etc., which led to the recovery of incriminating documents/articles, digital records”, the CBI spokesperson said in the statement.
The probe agency has invoked IPC 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 201 and 420, among other provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In its chargesheet filed before a special CBI court here, the agency said the probe is kept open to look into the larger conspiracy and role of other accused in the case.
The CBI had filed the last chargesheet on November 25, last year. It is alleged that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021–22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP-led Delhi government. The policy was later scrapped.
“It was further alleged that irregularities were committed, including modifications in the excise policy, extending undue favours to the licensees, waiver/reduction in the licence fee, the extension of L-1 licence without approval, etc.
“It was also alleged that illegal gains on the count of these acts were diverted to concerned public servants by private parties by making false entries in their books of accounts,” a CBI spokesperson said after the FIR was filed on August 17, last year.
Responding to the chargesheet filed by the CBI naming Mr Sisodia, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that AAP leaders may or may not agree that Mr Sisodia is guilty, but the people of Delhi believe that he is the mastermind of the liquor scam. He also said that if Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is himself not involved in the liquor scam then he should immediately expel Mr Sisodia from AAP.
