Manish Sisodia was arrested under charges of criminal conspiracy and intent to defraud of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act after eight hours of questioning on Sunday. Here’s what happened next.
Senior AAP leader and the former deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam on Sunday night. The CBI arrested him for criminal conspiracy and intent to defraud under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act after eight hours of questioning.
Several senior party leaders have been under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI ever since the AAP’s most ambitious Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 was scrapped on July 31, 2022.
Here’s what has happened so far since Sunday:
THE ARREST
The CBI made a late night arrest on Sunday and took Delhi’s deputy chief minister into custody. Following the arrest, the CBI, in a statement, said that the AAP leader gave evasive replies and did not cooperate with the investigation. The arrest provoked a series of media briefings by the AAP and the BJP, pitted against one another in the national capital.
While the BJP hailed the move, with several leaders saying that the arrest was only a matter of time, the AAP tore into its political rival and called the arrest “dirty politics”. The party maintained that Sisodia was “innocent” and reiterated that even after several raids no evidence had been found against its leader.
Manish Sisodia, who was in charge of 18 ministries in the Delhi government, was produced before a court in Delhi on Monday. The CBI, in a statement, said the leader gave evasive replies and did not cooperate with the investigators.
The court granted the CBI Sisodia’s five-day custody but with conditions. The court considered the apprehensions of senior counsels about the use of force or third-degree methods for extracting information from the accused and said that such concerns can be taken care of by imposing certain conditions.
Under the court-imposed riders, officers of the agency can interrogate the accused only at a place with CCTV coverage. The footage will have to be preserved by the CBI. Sisodia will have to be medically examined once every 48 hours and will be allowed to take his prescribed medicines. Sisodia has been allowed to meet his advocates for 30 minutes every day between 6 pm to 7 pm during his CBI custody. The agency officials will not be allowed to listen into their conversations, the court said. Sisodia would also get to meet his ailing wife every day for 15 minutes, the order said.
SUPREME COURT CHALLENGE
Arvind Kejriwal’s now-former deputy moved to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, challenging his arrest. However, in a setback to the AAP and its leader, the top court dismissed the petition and asked Sisodia to approach the Delhi High Court.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said that the court is not inclined to entertain the petition at this stage and said that the AAP leader has alternative remedies at his disposal. It would set a very wrong precedent if the court entertains a plea merely because the incident happened in Delhi, Justice Narasimha said.
RESIGNATION
Following the court setback, Manish Sisodia resigned as minister and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accepted his resignation. If sentenced to two years or more in jail, Sisodia is likely to lose his seat and will not be able to contest an election for six years.
Sisodia’s resignation was necessitated by the fact that he held several high-stakes portfolios, including education and finance, and his portfolios had to be reassigned to another minister to ensure the smooth functioning of the government, especially with the budget coming up.
For now, Kailash Gehlot has been handed over Sisodia’s ministries.
