Amid CBI raids, AAP workers detained outside Manish Sisodia home | Video

Manish Sisodia CBI searches: The central probe agency's searches against the Delhi deputy chief minister come weeks after Lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a probe into the excise policy, which was cleared last year.

A group of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers were on Friday detained by the Delhi Police outside deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia's residence after they gathered to protest the raids launched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over the national capital's excise policy. Section 144 has been imposed in the area around the Delhi minister's residence, banning large gatherings.

Screengrab of video shared by ANI: AAP workers outside Manish Sisodia's house being taken into custody by the Delhi Police.

A video shared by news agency ANI showed cops taking several AAP workers to custody who were gathered outside Sisodia's house. “They're announcing that they've imposed Section 144 here. Nobody raised slogans or misbehaved, we don't know what they fear. The more they stop us, the bigger we'll grow,” a protester was quoted as saying by ANI.

The agency on Friday raided around 21 locations, including that of Sisodia, former excise commissioner Arav Gopi Krishna. The latest development comes weeks after the capital's new Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the excise policy cleared last year.

‘Only aim to curb Kejriwal’s popularity’

Addressing a press briefing in the aftermath of the raids, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, “Instead of being happy for Delhi model getting international recognition, PM Modi sent the CBI team to his residence.”

Singh affirmed that there should be no misgiving that the Centre's aim is to probe the excise policy. “Had that been the case, the raids should have been in Gujarat as well,” he added.

"The only aim is to curb Kejriwal's popularity and block Delhi's health and education model," Sanjay Singh said.

(With inputs from ANI)