Manish Sisodia arrested: The Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi on Monday sent Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to a 5-day Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody till March 4, a day after he was arrested in the Delhi liquor policy case after hours of questioning by the central probing agency. In its chargesheet filed last year, the CBI had mentioned Manish Sisodia as accused number one in the alleged corruption in Delhi's now scrapped new excise policy. Sisodia will be produced in the Delhi court again on March 4 at 2 pm.
- Hitting out at the Modi government, AAP MP Sanjay Singh in a presser today said that the Centre got Sisodia arrested to divert the public attention from outrage over Adani issue. "People are watching, will ensure justice, AAP born out of movements, we aren't scared of going to jail," said Sanjay Singh.
- Sisodia's arrest has come before he was going to present the budget in the Delhi assembly. Speaking on the matter, Sisodia's counsel and senior advocate Dayan Krishnan told the court, "I am the finance minister. I've to present the budget... what changed yesterday that the finance minister was to be placed under custody? Was he not available for next days? Or was this arrest done for ulterior motive? This case is an assault on an individual as well as the institution. Remand will send a message, this is a fit case for declining remand."
- The CBI submitted in the court that Sisodia has claimed that he had no role in the case but the probe showed he personally took decisions. Sisodia's counsel argued that the CBI says he changed his cell phones, but that is not a crime.
- "The CBI will find nothing against Manish Sisodia in these 5 days," said AAP leader Gopal Rai after the court granted CBI custody of Sisodia till March 4.
- In a statement on Sunday, CBI said that they have arrested Manish Sisodia in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in framing & implementation of the excise policy.
- Hitting out at the Centre, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday termed Sisodia's arrest as 'dirty politics' adding Manish Sisodia is innocent.
- On Monday, Kejriwal in a tweet, said that despite CBI officers unwilling to arrest Sisodia, they were under 'pressure' from 'political masters' to act.
- "I am told that most CBI officers were against Manish’s arrest. All of them have huge respect for him and there is no evidence against him. But the political pressure to arrest him was so high that they had to obey their political masters," Kejriwal said.
- Meanwhile, AAP leaders and workers hit the streets in Delhi, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Kolkata, Mumbai, Srinagar, Jammu, Panaji, Patna and some other cities alleging that the Centre was misusing its agencies to target political rivals.
- In Delhi, commotion erupted outside the AAP headquarters and scores of party workers and leaders were detained as police used force to remove the protesters gathered to take a rally to the office of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP).
(With inputs from PTI)
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