‘CBI has given clean chit to Manish Sisodia’: Arvind Kejriwal

He said more than 500 raids were conducted in the excise case, the walls of Sisodia’s house were taken down, his locker was opened and even his relatives in the ancestral village were probed but nothing was found

A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed the charge sheet in the excise policy case, Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday argued that the absence of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s name in the charge sheet translates into a “clean chit” being given to him as the agency has not been able to find “an iota of proof” against Sisodia.

The CBI on Friday filed its first charge sheet in the Delhi excise policy case naming seven people (ANI Photo)

“CBI has filed a charge sheet in the so-called excise scam and it does not even mention Manish Sisodia. Over 800 officers of CBI and the enforcement directorate (ED) were working on this case over the last four months with the single task of arresting Sisodia but the charge sheet proves they have nothing against him,” Kejriwal said.

Just a week before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, if they had found a shred of evidence, they would have blown it out of proportion, he added.

He said more than 500 raids were conducted in the excise case, the walls of Sisodia’s house were taken down, his locker was opened and even his relatives in the ancestral village were probed but nothing was found.

The CBI on Friday filed its first charge sheet in the Delhi excise policy case naming seven people, including AAP communication strategist Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, a businessman who allegedly lobbied for retail liquor licences for South India based companies, three other businessmen and two former officials of the excise department of Delhi.

Furthermore, Kejriwal said the MCD election has become a contest between Kejriwal’s 10 guarantees versus Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 10 videos in an apparent reference to the series of video leaks in which BJP has alleged minister Satyendar Jain of getting VIP treatment at Tihar jail. Jain is imprisoned in an alleged money laundering case.

Meanwhile, the agency said, “Sisodia, who was named as accused in the CBI’s first information report (FIR) on August 17, has not been named in the charge sheet and the investigation against him and others into the alleged cartelisation of the liquor trade in Delhi is continuing.”

However, Delhi BJP said Sisodia was the ‘prime accused’ in the case and the first charge sheet is not the end of the investigation.

Responding to BJP, Kejriwal said, “We are getting the certificate of honesty directly from our prime minister as the PM was personally monitoring this case. He was in touch with ED-CBI. We can say with pride that Kejriwal and his party is ‘kattar imandar’ (fiercely honest). “No other politician in India can say this,” he added.

Further taking a dig at Narendra Modi, Kejriwal appealed that the PM should spend at least two out of his 18 working hours time to work for the development of India. “Please do not become so negative (in targeting AAP), please think positively about the country,” he added.