Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday turned nostalgic while wishing his colleague and friend Manish Sisodia on his birthday. Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 for his alleged role in corruption in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2020-21. The AAP leader has been in custody since then.
"This friendship is very old. Our affection and trust is very strong. This passion of working for the public is also very old. No matter how hard the conspirators try... this trust, this affection and this friendship will never be broken...." and added that the BJP has kept Sisodia in jail on false charges. "BJP has kept Manish in jail for the last 11 months by filing false cases. But Manish is standing firm in front of their oppression, has neither bowed down to their dictatorship till now nor will ever bow down in future. In this era of dictatorship, Manish's courage inspires us all."
Sisodia arrested in 2023
The ED arrested Sisodia in a money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9 after questioning him in Tihar jail. Sisodia, who held the excise portfolio, resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28. The Delhi government had implemented the excise policy on November 17, 2021 but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption. According to the investigating agencies, the profit margins of wholesalers were arbitrarily increased from 5 per cent to 12 per cent under the new policy.
