Manish Sisodia says ‘Op Lotus’ in mind, entire Delhi excise probe fake; CBI responds

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Monday was questioned by officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for about nine hours in the Delhi excise policy case. Sisodia, who had arrived at the CBI office in the national capital at 11.15am, was seen leaving the place around 8.55pm.

News agency ANI quoted a CBI officer as saying that the probe team will now evaluate the answers given by the Delhi deputy CM and if needed, he will be summoned again later. “No summons to Sisodia for tomorrow,” an agency officer said.

Manish Sisodia addresses the media after being questioned by the CBI in connection to the excise policy case

After exiting the central agency’s office, Sisodia told reporters that there is no case in excise policy and the entire interrogation is to make “Operation Lotus” (a term used by Opposition camps to refer to BJP’s alleged attempts at toppling governments across the country) successful in Delhi.

“Today I saw in the CBI office that there’s no issue of any scam (excise policy case). The whole case is fake. I understood all that in the 9hr-questioning today. The case isn’t to probe any scam against me, but to make Operation Lotus successful in Delhi,” Sisodia said.

He further said that he was asked to leave the AAP, failing which more such cases will be registered against him, to which he replied he would not leave the Arvind Kejriwal-led party for the BJP.

“I was asked inside the CBI office to leave (AAP), or else such cases will keep getting registered against me. I was told ‘Satyendar Jain ke upar konse sachhe cases hain?’…I said I won’t leave AAP for BJP. They said they’ll make me CM,” he said.

The CBI later refuted the Delhi deputy chief minister’s allegations and said he was questioned in a professional and legal manner.

“Manish Sisodia’s statement will be verified, further action will be taken as per requirements of investigation,” a CBI spokesperson told PTI.

Sisodia, who is in charge of the Delhi government’s excise department, besides education, has been named as the number one accused in a first information report (FIR) filed in the excise case back in August.

The Delhi deputy chief minister has been under the scanner for alleged deliberate and gross procedural lapses that provided undue benefits to the tender process for liquor licenses for 2021–22.

According to the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED), irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, with undue favours being extended to licence holders. They said licence fees were also waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority’s approval.

In August, agencies carried out searches at his official residence along with several other locations.

Other accused in the excise policy scam case include a former employee of Pernod Ricard Manoj Rai, director of Brindco Sales Amandeep Dhal, authorised signatories of Mahadev Liquors Sunny Marwah, Arun Ramchandra Pillai and Arjun Pandey.