Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 6: The former Delhi deputy chief minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia, arrested in the alleged liquor policy scam, was lodged in Tihar Jail No 1 on Monday after a special court sent him to judicial custody till March 20.
The CBI did not seek his further remand after which Sisodia was sent to the judicial custody by the special CBI judge MK Nagpal. Sisodia, who was in the CBI custody since his arrest on February 26 was produced in the special court on Monday afternoon after his remand to the CBI custody ended.
The CBI, however, told the court that though they were not seeking further remand, they might need his custody again for questioning in future if the need arises. The court has allowed the AAP leader to carry medicines prescribed during his medical examination. He has also been allowed to carry a pair of spectacles, a diary, a pen, and a copy of Bhagavad Gita. As requested by Mr Sisodia’s counsel, the court has directed the jail authorities to consider the request of keeping him in the meditation cell.
The AAP leader has applied for bail and his request will be taken up on Friday. He was arrested on February 26 and sent to the CBI’s custody for five days. The court later extended the custody by two days. The CBI, sources had earlier said, may not seek further custody.
Sisodia, 51, has said in this bail petition that CBI officials were asking him the same questions over and over again and that was causing him mental harassment. His lawyer has said keeping him in custody will “serve no fruitful purpose” as all recoveries in the case have been made. He has also said the “inefficiency of the agency” to complete the probe cannot be ground for remand.
The CBI, on its part, has said Sisodia had been uncooperative and evasive during the questioning. They have also cited time lost in his medical examination and the Supreme Court hearing of his bail plea. The AAP leader had approached the top court for relief following his arrest. The Supreme Court, however, refused to intervene and asked him to approach the High Court. He has resigned as Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister and given up the 18 portfolios he earlier held.
Sisodia faces allegations of corruption in the liquor policy that was scrapped after Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe. Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal government was accused of bending rules and providing undue benefits to liquor vend licensees.
The Delhi government has rubbished the allegations, saying that the BJP was misusing investigating agencies for political motives. Kejriwal has said the now-scrapped liquor policy was the “most transparent policy in the country.”
The AAP leaders and workers have been protesting against Sisodia’s arrest and have alleged that the “dictatorship” of the Narendra Modi-led Central government has reached its peak. Over 30 protesters were detained by the police and later released. The AAP has claimed that the CBI was “mentally torturing” senior party leader and pressuring him to sign papers containing false charges.
During the hearing, the CBI prosecutor alleged that witnesses were terrified in this case. “In the future, we will seek police custody, see the conduct outside the court. The media and their (AAP) supporters are politicising the matter. He (Sisodia) is not supporting the investigation. The witnesses to be confronted, they are under apprehension and terrified. The media is giving (the arrest) political colour. They are terrifying the witnesses. Entire proceedings are as per law but they are politicising all these things. Bytes are running in the media before the order has come,” the CBI prosecutor told the court.
He alleged that before the court proceedings were conducted, news of the agency moving a judicial custody application was aired. Senior advocate Mohit Mathur, who appeared for Sisodia, told the court “Let them check their own house in order.”
“Searches were conducted after taking warrants, charge sheet filed, cognisance of offence taken, accused was arrested, produced before the court…. police custody given. All these proceedings are conducted before the court… My concern is that court proceedings are going on, then they say what the CBI is doing is illegal,” the CBI prosecutor said.
Mathur said, “Reveal who is saying all this? They have not mentioned anything in their five-page remand order.” “Further investigation is going on; various potential witnesses will be influenced,” the CBI prosecutor told the court.
