CBI raids Sisodia in excise case

In response to the agency's action, Sisodia, the Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leaders launched a broadside, calling the searches deliberate harassment with a political motive.

The Central Bureau of Investigation carried out searches at the residence of Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and at several other locations on Friday, triggering a showdown between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in power in the Capital and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre.

New Delhi, India - August. 19, 2022: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia at his residence during a CBI raid in connection to an alleged corruption in the liquor policy, at Mathura road in New Delhi, India, on Friday, August 19, 2022. (Photo by Arvind Yadav/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The raids came a month after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a federal investigation into the AAP administration’s effort to bring in a new excise policy to overhaul the city’s liquor market citing a report from the chief secretary that alleged rules were ignored in the drafting of the policy.

Sisodia, the Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leaders launched a broadside, calling the searches deliberate harassment with a political motive. “It is unfortunate that those who do good work in our country are harassed like this. That is why our country has not yet become No 1,” Sisodia tweeted in the morning.

The raids lasted a little more than 14 hours, after which the deputy CM told reporters that agency seized his computer and personal phone. “We cooperated with them. CBI is being misused. It is being handled from above. We have not done any corruption and we are not afraid,” he said.

The minister, according to the copy of the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the agency, is among 15 people named as accused of criminal conspiracy, falsification of records and under prevention of corruption act. Three officials of excise department — former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, former deputy commissioner Anand Tiwari, assistant commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar and 11 executives of some companies in liquor retail vending were also named.

Kejriwal said “nothing will come out of this”, and praised Sisodia for being the “best education minister of independent India” as he cited coverage by the New York Times, which published a front-page feature on Sisodia and Delhi’s schools in its international edition in the morning. “CBI is doing its work, there is no need to be scared. We should let CBI do its work, they have an order from the top to hassle us. Obstacles will come but work won’t stop,” said Kejriwal.

The Bharatiya Janata Party hit back at the AAP, saying the developments demonstrated the party’s corrupt practices. “No matter how hard a corrupt person tries to prove himself innocent, he will still remain corrupt. This is not the first case of corruption by AAP... The day CBI was asked to probe (corruption in the new excise policy), the policy was withdrawn the same day. If there is no corruption in the excise policy, then why was it withdrawn?” said Union minister Anurag Thakur.

AAP member of parliament Sanjay Singh said the raids were a sign that the BJP is “completely rattled” by the “growing popularity” of Kejriwal and his model of governance. The party’s workers and supporters protested against the federal agency outside Sisodia’s residence but were detained by the Delhi Police.

Addressing a joint press conference with former Union minister and Delhi MP Dr Harsh Vardhan and Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta said, “They have claimed that the government is earning profit due to the new excise policy. But we have been saying it from day one that there is corruption and the policy has been brought to benefit the liquor mafia. The CBI raids are proof of corruption.”

Sisodia, who is also the excise, education and finance minister in the Delhi government, steered the 2021-22 excise policy introduced in November 2021. The policy overhauled the Capital’s liquor market and fetched the state government ₹8,919.59 crore, close to 27% more than the base price set for licence bids.

It was aimed at making the process of purchasing liquor more consumer-friendly.

In its first information report (FIR), filed on Wednesday, CBI claimed that Manish Sisodia, along with others, was “actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licencees to the public servants”.

The private persons and entities named by the CBI include — Manoj Rai (former employee of Pernod Ricard), Sameer Mahendru (managing director of Jor Bagh-based Indospirit Group), Amandeep Dhal (director of Brindco Sales Pvt Ltd), Vijay Nair (former CEO of Mumbai-based event management company M/s Only Much Louder), Amit Arora (director of Buddy Retail Private Ltd), one Dinesh Arora, Sunny Marwah of Mahadev Liquors, Telangana-based individual Arun Ramchandra Pillai, and Arjun Pandey from Gurugram.

CBI teams carried out raids at a total of 31 places including Sisodia’s official residence and other named accused persons in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Bengaluru, which the agency said, led to recovery of incriminating documents and digital evidence.

“It was alleged that irregularities were committed including in modifications in excise policy, extending undue favours to the licencees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, extension of L-1 license without approval etc. It was further alleged that illegal gains on count of these acts were diverted to concerned public servants by private parties and making false entries in their books of accounts,” CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said in a statement.

The CBI FIR states that “Sisodia, Gopi Krishna, Tiwari and Bhatnagar were instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to excise policy for the year 2021-22 without the approval of competent authority (the Lt Governor) with an intention to extend undue favours to the licencees post tender”.

Other than the LG’s complaint, CBI’s reliable sources, the FIR added, have found that Vijay Nair, Manoj Rai, Amandeep Dhal and Sameer Mahendru “are actively involved in irregularities in framing and implementation of excise policy of Delhi government for the year 2021-22”.

Arora, director of Buddy Retail, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey, CBI said, are close associates of Manish Sisodia and are actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licencees to accused public servants.

CBI has claimed that Sameer Mahendru transferred an amount of ₹1 crore to UCO Bank account of Radha Industries, a company managed by Dinesh Arora — a close associate of Manish Sisodia.

Pillai, according to the CBI, used to collect undue pecuniary advantage from Mahendru for onward transmission to accused public servants through Vijay Nair. “A person named Arjun Pandey has once collected huge cash amount of ₹2-4 crores from Sameer Mahendru on behalf of Vijay Nair,” it added.

Subsequently, CBI claimed Sunny Marwah, who is authorised signatory of Mahadev Liquors — which is one of the L1 licencees, and is also a director in companies/firms managed by family of Ponty Chadha, was in close contact with accused public servants and has been regularly giving undue pecuniary advantage to them.

An officer who didn’t want to be named said the Enforcement Directorate is also likely to register a money laundering case in the matter soon.

After Saxena last month recommended a CBI probe, the LG also suspended 11 excise officials in the matter. Sisodia too demanded a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the policy.