CBI raids at Manish Sisodia’s home ends after 14 hours; Documents, digital records seized

India

oi-Deepika S

New
Delhi,
Aug
19:
The
Central
Bureau
of
Investigation
(CBI)
on
Friday
raided
Manish
Sisodia’s
home
and
30
other
locations
in
connection
with
alleged
corruption
in
the
implementation
of
the
Delhi
Excise
Policy.

During
the
14-hour
raid,
the
agency
officials
seized
incriminating
documents,
articles,
digital
records,
etcetera
relating
to
the
new
excise
policy
from
the
home
of
a
public
servant.

The
AAP
condemned
the
raids
with
Chief
Minister
Arvind
Kejriwal
claiming
the
agency
has
been
“asked
from
above”
to
harass
its
leaders.
The
BJP
asked
the
Delhi
government
to
come
out
clean
on
its
excise
policy.

The
searches
at
the
AAP
leader’s
home,
the
residence
of
IAS
officer
and
former
excise
commissioner
Arava
Gopi
Krishna
and
29
other
places
took
place
after
the
CBI
registered
an
FIR
for
alleged
corruption
and
bribery
formulation
and
execution
of
the
Delhi
Excise
Policy
brought
out
last
November,
officials
said.

The
CBI,
which
registered
an
FIR
in
a
special
court
here
on
Wednesday,
began
its
raids
from
8
AM
in
seven
states
including
the
residence
of
Sisodia
who
immediately
tweeted
about
the
arrival
of
the
sleuths
and
“welcomed”
the
move.

Delhi
excise
scam:
CBI
names
Manish
Sisodia
as
‘accused
no
1’
in
FIR

Under
CBI
probe
are
at
least
two
payments
in
crores
allegedly
made
to
“close
associates”
of
Sisodia
by
Sameer
Mahendru,
owner
of
Indospirits,
who
was
one
of
the
liquor
traders
actively
involved
in
irregularities
in
the
framing
and
implementation
of
the
excise
policy.

The
FIR
alleged
Sisodia’s
“close
associates”
Amit
Arora,
director
of
Buddy
Retail
Pvt.
Limited
in
Gurugram,
Dinesh
Arora
and
Arjun
Pandey
were
“actively
involved
in
managing
and
diverting
the
undue
pecuniary
advantage
collected
from
liquor
licensees”
for
the
accused
public
servants.
It
said
Radha
Industries
managed
by
Dinesh
Arora
allegedly
received
Rs
1
crore
from
Mahendru.
Pandey,
also
an
associate
of
Sisodia,
had
once
collected
a
cash
of
about
Rs
2-4
crore
from
Mahendru
on
behalf
of
Vijay
Nair,
former
CEO
of
Only
Much
Louder,
an
entertainment
and
event
management
company,
the
FIR
has
alleged.

The
CBI
has
invoked
IPC
section
related
to
criminal
conspiracy
and
provisions
of
Prevention
of
Corruption
Act
in
its
FIR
filed
against
15
persons
including
four
public
servants
Sisodia,
Krishna,
former
Deputy
Excise
Commissioner
Anand
Tiwari
and
assistant
excise
commissioner
Pankaj
Bhatnagar,
nine
businessmen
and
two
companies.

Delhi
Lt
Governor
V
K
Saxena
last
month
recommended
a
CBI
probe
into
alleged
irregularities
in
the
implementation
of
the
Excise
Policy
2021-22.
He
had
also
suspended
11
excise
officials
in
the
matter.
Sisodia
had
also
demanded
a
CBI
probe
into
the
alleged
irregularities
in
the
policy.