Sisodia cites Budget, seeks time from CBI; agency agrees

The agency has not yet given a new date for Sisodia to appear, but people familiar with the development said fresh summons are likely to be issued to him soon

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to postpone his questioning in the Delhi excise policy probe till the month’s end as he was busy finalising the Capital’s Budget, a request the agency accepted.

Security personnel outside Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia's residence on Mathura Road in New Delhi on Sunday. (Sanjeev Verma/ HT Photo)

The agency has not yet given a new date for Sisodia to appear, but people familiar with the development said fresh summons are likely to be issued to him soon. “We have not decided yet but fresh summons could be issued for next week,” said an officer, who didn’t want to be named.

The deputy CM, who CBI named as a key accused in its FIR filed on August 17 last year alleging that he was instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to the excise policy without necessary approvals, was supposed to appear before the investigating officer at 11am on Sunday.

To be sure, the agency did not name Sisodia in its charge sheet.

“I wrote to CBI and asked for time until February last week as I am finalising the Budget of Delhi and it is a crucial time,” he said.

“It’s my duty as finance minister to present the Budget on time and I have been working 24 hours for it. I have requested CBI to allow me to come after the last week of February and answer all their questions,” he added.

Delhi’s state Budget is usually presented in the last week of February or at the beginning of March. Sisodia had presented the Budget for the state for the 2022-23 fiscal on March 26, 2022. The 2021-22 Budget was presented on March 8, 2021, the 2020-21 fiscal’s Budget was presented on March 23, 2020 , and the 2019-20 Budget was presented on February 26, 2019.

The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, alleged that Sisodia seemed “nervous about the questioning” and that he was running away from the probe.

Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said that granting or rejecting the request for additional time is under the jurisdiction of the investigating agency but if every accused demands time as per their own convenience, the probe will not proceed.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana alleged that Sisodia is using the budgetary process as “an excuse to run away from questions”.

“He seems nervous about the tough questions CBI is asking. One day, he will have to appear before the CBI and answer the questions surrounding the Delhi excise policy. If they were so serious about the Budget process, why would they be wasting time on politics every day,” he added.

The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalise the city’s flagging liquor business. It wanted to replace a sales-volume-based regime with a licence fee-based one for traders, and promised swankier stores, free of the infamous metal grilles, ultimately giving customers a better buying experience. The policy also introduced discounts and offers on the purchase of liquor, a first for Delhi. The plan, however, came to an abrupt end, with Delhi’s lieutenant governor VK Saxena recommending a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the regime. This ultimately resulted in the policy being scrapped prematurely and replaced by the 2020-21 regime, with the AAP alleging that Saxena’s predecessor sabotaged the move with a few last-minute changes resulting in lower-than-expected revenues.

Sisodia was last questioned by the anti-corruption agency on October 17 for almost nine hours. CBI named him as a key accused in its first information report (FIR) filed on August 17 last year, alleging that he was instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to the excise policy 2021-22 without the approval of the competent authority.

But in the three charge sheets – one by CBI and two by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) - that the agencies have filed till now, the deputy CM has not been named.

ED is also carrying out a money laundering investigation into the matter. In its charge sheet filed on January 6, the agency cited Sisodia’s secretary C Arvind’s statement to allege that the decision to fix 12% profit margin for wholesale private entities was conveyed to him at Kejriwal’s residence in mid-March 2021.