The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is interrogating Aam Aadmi Party leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia in connection with the Delhi liquor scam case. Sisodia was summoned to the CBI headquarters for questioning on Monday, October 17. As he is being grilled in the headquarters of the central agency, here are some questions which Sisodia might need to answer.
- What was the reason behind the introduction of an excise policy in November 2021? Who was behind the sanctioning of the policy?
- Who attended the early meetings on the policy and where were they conducted? What were the details mulled over in the discussion?
- What were the advantages of the Delhi government’s excise policy?
- Who made the ultimate decision to issue the tender notice, and who signed off on the tender terms and conditions?
- What about R Gopi Krishan, the previous Excise Commissioner? What role did the former officer play in the policy’s implementation, and did he oppose it?
- What was Vijay Nair’s involvement in developing the excise policy, and what are his ties to all of the liquor companies that received licences?
- Was the excise policy opposed by Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar?
- Why do licence holders deposit money in the bank accounts of their acquaintances – Amit Arora, Dinesh Arora, and Arjun Pandey?
Meanwhile, as Manish Sisodia faces the questions of the Central agency, the AAP leaders and workers continue to wreak havoc outside the CBI headquarters. Several of them have been allegedly protesting and attempting to disrupt the functioning of the CBI.
#AAP protests outside agency HQ as Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia gets grilled by #CBI@siddhantvm shares details with @ridhimb #Delhi #ExcisePolicy pic.twitter.com/60Kd8kfvh9
— News18 (@CNNnews18) October 17, 2022
Manish Sisodia branded the allegations against him “completely fake” hours before he was scheduled to appear before the CBI in connection with the liquor policy case. “They want to arrest me by registering a fake case against me. I had to go to Gujarat for election campaigning in the coming days. These people are losing in Gujarat badly. Their aim is to stop me from campaigning there. Whenever I went to Gujarat, I told people that we will build schools like Delhi for your children in Gujarat too,” Sisodia claimed in a series of tweets this morning.
जब जब मैं गुजरात गया, मैंने गुजरात के लोगों को यही कहा कि हम गुजरात में भी आपके बच्चों के लिए दिल्ली जैसे शानदार स्कूल बनायेंगे। लोग बहुत खुश हैं। लेकिन ये लोग नहीं चाहते कि गुजरात में भी अच्छे स्कूल बनें, गुजरात के लोग भी पढ़ें और तरक़्क़ी करें।
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) October 17, 2022
Manish Sisodia went to Rajghat before going to the CBI for the interrogation. While with his supporters, Sisodia said that they should be proud if he is in jail.
“मेरे जेल जाने पर गर्व करना”; CBI दफ्तर जाने से पहले बोले मनीष सिसोदिया pic.twitter.com/89tG0fBvqG
— NDTV Videos (@ndtvvideos) October 17, 2022
On August 19, Manish Sisodia was raided by the investigating agency in connection with the national capital’s liquor scam. The Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-2022 is at the crux of the controversy. The Delhi government’s now-cancelled liquor policy was first planned in 2020. It modified the way alcohol was sold in Delhi once it came into effect in November 2021.
The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-2022 allowed for the entry of private businesses into the sector. While the goal of Excise Policy 2021-2022 was to eliminate black marketing and the booze mafia, the AAP government was promptly criticized over charges of corruption. In the new liquor policy, Naresh Kumar, who was appointed Chief Secretary of Delhi in April 2022, discovered inconsistencies and procedural failures.
As per a report by the Chief Secretary, it is alleged that irregularities were perpetrated in amendments to the Excise Policy, offering disproportionate favours to licensees, waiving/reducing licencing costs, extending L-1 licences without authorization, and so on. It is further alleged that illicit proceeds from these operations were channelled through private parties to interested public officers, who subsequently made fraudulent entries in their books of accounts.
The FIR was filed on August 17, after the recommendation of Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena for a CBI investigation into the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. Vijay Nair, the AAP’s communication in-charge and former CEO of entertainment and event management company Only Much Louder, Indospirit Group Managing Director Sameer Mahendru, and Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinpally have all been arrested in the case to date.
