‘Will cooperate’ says Sisodia on summons from CBI in excise policy case

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader was last questioned by the anti-corruption agency on October 17 for almost nine hours. CBI has named him as a key accused in its first information report (FIR), filed on August 17 last year

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) once again summoned Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia asking him to appear before the probe agency on Sunday in connection with Delhi excise policy 2021-22, people familiar with the development said.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia (PTI Photo)

Certain leads in the case needed investigation and hence, Sisodia has been asked to again join the investigation, he has been asked to appear at 11am at the CBI headquarters, an officer said.

Reacting to the fresh CBI summons, Sisodia said he will cooperate with the investigations.

“CBI has again called me tomorrow (Sunday). They (referring to the centre) have used the full power of the CBI and the ED (Enforcement Directorate) against me; raided my house; searched my bank locker but nothing was found. I have made arrangements for good education for the children in Delhi. They want to stop it. I have always cooperated with the investigation and will continue to do so,” Sisodia wrote on Twitter.

In a charge sheet filed on January 6, the ED cited Sisodia’s secretary C Arvind’s statement alleging that the decision to fix the 12% profit margin for the wholesale private entities was conveyed to him at chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence in mid-March 2021.

It has also been alleged that there was no discussion in the Group of Ministers (GoM) meetings – Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Kailash Gehlot were in the GoM - about giving wholesale liquor business in Delhi to private entities.

“Suddenly, in the mid-March 2021, C Arvind was called by Sisodia to Kejriwal’s residence (where Satyendar Jain was also present) and Sisodia handed over a document to C Arvind which was a draft GoM report proposing that wholesale should go to private entities and asked him to prepare the draft GoM report based on the said document. He said that it was the first time that he saw this proposal as the same was never discussed in any GoM meetings,” the ED charge sheet says.

Meanwhile, to probe a larger conspiracy between leaders of AAP and politicians from the South, the ED earlier this week questioned Arun Ramchandra Pillai, who allegedly represented the South Group, particularly– K Kavitha, MLC and daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, in the excise policy scam, people familiar with the development said.

Pillai’s questioning comes a week after another member of the ‘South Group’– Raghav Magunta Reddy, son of YSR Congress member of parliament Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, was arrested by the ED.

After arresting Raghav last week, the ED claimed that “the main arm of the entire Delhi liquor scam rests on the conspiracy orchestrated by the South Group with the AAP leaders.”

The ‘South Group’ allegedly comprises Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, his son Raghav Magunta, Sarath Reddy (promoter of Aurobindo Group), and K Kavitha, who allegedly control nine out of 32 retail liquor zones in Delhi as part of a “super cartel” formed with Mahendru.

“In this conspiracy, some of the big political leaders of various political parties have been found to be involved using proxies, dummies and web of exchanges/transactions to conceal their involvement,” the ED said in its remand paper on February 11. HT has seen the remand note.

A senior officer familiar with the probe, said, “Several accused persons and witnesses, including Pillai, are being called regularly as we are looking at political leaders’ role in the excise policy-related irregularities.”

The ED has claimed that a part of a ₹100 crore “kickback” received by AAP’s communications in-charge Vijay Nair from a “South Group” on behalf of the AAP leaders was used for the Goa assembly elections campaign last year, a charge rubbished by CM Kejriwal earlier this month as “fiction”.

All the others named by ED have also denied the charges, calling them baseless and fabricated.

The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalise the city’s liquor business. It aimed to replace a sales-volume-based regime with a one-time license fee 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 lieutenant governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena recommending a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the regime. This ultimately resulted in the policy being scrapped prematurely and being replaced by the 2020-21 regime, with the AAP alleging that Saxena’s predecessor sabotaged the move with a few last-minute changes that resulted in lower-than-expected revenues.