Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, today appealed his detention by the CBI before the Supreme Court. After hearing Mr. Sisodia’s attorney Abhishek Singhvi speak, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud questioned why they hadn’t first gone to the high court before going straight to the Supreme Court.
Mr. Singhvi mentioned Mr. Sisodia’s petition to the Supreme Court as being motivated by the ruling in the Vinod Dua case. Chief Justice Chandrachud then announced that the case would be heard at 3:50 p.m.
In June 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed a sedition charge brought against journalist Vinod Dua for his critique of the center’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Dua had made a straight visit to the Supreme Court.
In the Delhi liquor policy case, a Delhi judge yesterday ordered Mr. Sisodia held in the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) custody for five days. In order to question him about alleged corruption in the creation of the new liquor policy, which was abandoned after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena raised it, the central agency informed the city court that it requires more time.
Today’s urgent hearing before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud is expected to include discussion of Mr. Sisodia’s challenge.
In a statement made to the Delhi court yesterday, the CBI claimed that Mr. Sisodia has been evading their inquiries and is unable to explain at least six problematic clauses in the liquor policy that were not included in the original draft.
According to the CBI, the modifications were made at the request of a liquor lobby in return for 30 crore in kickbacks.
The CBI has stated that it is concentrating on the alleged “South Lobby” of businessmen and politicians who are using middlemen, traders, and officials to sway the liquor policy in their favor.
Butchibabu Gorantla, a former certified accountant for K Kavitha, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, was recently detained by the CBI.
A draft note that was allegedly discovered on Mr. Sisodia’s computer yesterday, according to the CBI, indicates that the profit margin requirement for liquor companies was increased from 5% to 12%. The CBI claimed that Mr. Sisodia removed the legal expert’s view from the draft note before giving it to the excise commissioner.
The Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party, two opposition parties in the center, as well as the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have criticized the CBI over Mr. Sisodia’s arrest.
The AAP claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are concerned about Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Sisodia’s “rise” and are making a concerted effort to thwart their plans for the upcoming presidential race.
The Enforcement Directorate, the Criminal Investigations Department, and the Income Tax Department are the only friends the BJP has left, according to the Trinamool Congress, which was criticizing PM Modi. The Enforcement Directorate was the organization that arrested Mr. Sisodia.
The BJP refuted claims that the CBI has been used by the government to persecute AAP officials. The BJP claimed that Mr. Sisodia, who also serves as the minister of education for Delhi and boasts of having created excellent policies to enhance schools, cannot conceal alleged corruption behind the success of his educational work.
