New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday morning raided 21 locations, including the residences of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, former Excise Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and three public servants, in connection with a probe into the capital’s revamped excise policy, sources in the CBI told ThePrint.
“Searches are still on and all documents related to the revamping of the excise policy are being seized. The case was registered after LG [Lieutenant Governor] Delhi flagged the irregularities in the Excise Policy,” the source said.
On 22 July, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena had recommended a CBI probe in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s Excise Policy 2021-22, alleging “deliberate and gross procedural lapses”, according to an assessment report prepared by the chief secretary.
Following this direction, the source said, the CBI registered a case in connection with the allegations in August and began a probe.
“It is suspected that undue financial favours were granted to the vendors taking liquor licenses by waiving the license fee, using the excuse of the business being hit by the pandemic, causing losses of over Rs 140 crore to the state. It is also alleged that kickbacks were received in exchange of favours and the money was then used in the Punjab elections. All the allegations are being probed,” the CBI source added.
Reacting to the raids Sisodia tweeted saying that he would cooperate with the probe agency and that they would not find anything against him.
“CBI is here and they are welcome. We are honest and are helping make the future of lakhs of children. It is unfortunate that whoever tries to do good work in this country is harassed like this. This is the reason why our country has not become No.1 till now,” he tweeted in Hindi.
सीबीआई आई है. उनका स्वागत है. हम कट्टर ईमानदार हैं . लाखों बच्चों का भविष्य बना रहे हैं.
बहुत ही दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण है कि हमारे देश में जो अच्छा काम करता है उसे इसी तरह परेशान किया जाता है. इसीलिए हमारा देश अभी तक नम्बर-1 नहीं बन पाया.
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) August 19, 2022
In another tweet, he said, “We will fully cooperate with the probe so that the truth comes out. Till now I have been probed in many cases but nothing was found against me. This time too, the agency will not find anything. They can’t stop my work in the field of education”
He further said that the good work being done in Delhi in the fields of education and health has the Centre worried, which is why they have also targeted Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who is currently in judicial custody in an alleged money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
“They want to stall the work in the fields of education and health. Both of us are being framed. The truth will come out in court,” he tweeted.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Rush, chaos outside liquor shops as Delhi govt decides to roll back new excise policy
Source: The Print
