Despite Citing Wife's Ill-health, Sisodia's CBI Custody Extended Till Monday; Bail Hearing on March 10

A Delhi Court on Saturday extended the CBI custody of AAP leader and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia by two days in a corruption case related to the excise policy. The Central Bureau of Investigation had sought three more days of custody of Sisodia when he was produced before the court on the expiry of his five-day CBI custody. 

Sisodia, arrested in a corruption case, filed a bail petition in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Friday. The court has listed Sisodia’s bail hearing on March 10 at 2 pm.

Sisodia in his bail application stated that he has joined the probe as and when called for by CBI. He further stated that “no fruitful purpose will be served by keeping him in custody as all recoveries have already been made”.

Earlier in the day, some Aam Aadmi Party leaders and workers protested against Sisodia’s arrest at various parts of the city including near their party office in Central Delhi.

Latest Updates Delhi Liquorgate Scam:

▶”CBI has nothing to do with evidence and truth. They are only listening to what the Central government is saying. This whole procedure is meant to trouble Manish Sisodia…His bail plea hearing is on March 10 now. Now either Sisodia ji will go to jail or CBI remand. This is Central Govt’s modus operandi. They are keeping Sisodia ji in jail without any evidence,” said AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj.

▶Delhi Court extended Manish Sisodia’s CBI custody for two more days till Monday (March 6).

▶Addressing a public meeting in poll-bound Karnataka, AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be scared of ‘kattar‘ honest people. “Modi ji you are jealous of AAP,” he said. He further alledged that PM Modi has put Sisodia behind bars.

▶Court issued notice to CBI on Sisodia’s bail plea.

▶Sisodia’s non-cooperation cannot be a ground for custody and cannot be asked to incriminate himself, his lawyer told the court.

▶Senior advocate Mohit Mathur appearing for Sisodia argued that the medical condition of former Dy CM’s wife should be considered while deciding on the bail plea. “The man who is not running away has to be seen that way too,” he said.

▶Senior advocate Dayan Krishan, arguing for Sisodia’s release, said that when the court grants remand for the second time, the trust in the allegation becomes higher.

▶CBI told the court that Sisodia was interrogated for eight hours per day during his 5-day custody.

▶CBI officials told the court that certain files and documents are still missing and have not been traced. They also said that Sisodia has not been cooperating with the investigation.

“A lot of time went in his medicals. One whole day went in the petition he filed in the Supreme Court which was dismissed,” CBI said seeking Sisodia’s further custody.

▶CBI sought further three-day remand of former Delhi Dy CM Manish Sisodia as the hearing begins in Rouse Avenue Court.

▶The CBI produced Sisodia before a Delhi court. There was heavy security presence in and outside the Rouse Avenue Courts premises. The agency produced Sisodia before special judge M K Nagpal on expiry of his five-day CBI custody granted on Monday and is likely to seek his custodial interrogation.

▶The supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party staged a protest outside the premises and raised slogans.

▶Scores of AAP workers also staged a protest in central Delhi demanding the release of Sisodia. The protest erupted before Sisodia’s appearance before the Rouse Avenue court, only a few metres from the party office on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg.

The workers raised slogans like ‘Manish Sisodia ko riha karo’ (release Manish Sisodia). They hit the street hours after the AAP’s Delhi convener held a meeting with some of the workers.

The party has alleged that Sisodia has been arrested to obstruct the “good work” being done by the Delhi government in the education sector

▶Arrested former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia was brought to Rouse Avenue Court for his bail plea hearing at the end of his 5-day CBI custody.

▶A clash broke out between AAP Workers and security forces outside CBI headquarters in Delhi ahead of Sisodia’s bail plea hearing.

▶Delhi Police, Rapid Action Force, and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel have already been deployed outside CBI headquarters as a precautionary measure before the agency produces arrested former Delhi deputy CM before a local court at the end of his 5-day remand.

▶The development comes after the Supreme Court refused to entertain the former Delhi Deputy CM’s plea challenging his arrest by CBI on Tuesday, and asked him to approach the High Court for alternative remedies

▶A special court on Monday sent Sisodia to five-day CBI remand in the Delhi liquorgate scam case.

▶As per CBI’s claim, during its probe it found that the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22 allegedly had irregularities both in its formulation and implementation and intended to benefit people having ties with the AAP.

▶The probe agency also claimed that under the policy, the Delhi government favoured certain dealers to rant licences for liquor traders, who had allegedly paid bribes for it. The accusation has been strongly refuted by the AAP.

▶The policy was later scrapped.

▶ Sisodia, who held 18 portfolios in the Delhi government, including excise and education, resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday after the apex court junked his plea.

▶The CBI had on Sunday evening arrested Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped liquor policy for 2021-22 after nearly eight hours of questioning during which his answers were claimed to have been found unsatisfactory.

▶The court had on February 27 remanded Sisodia in CBI custody to allow the agency to get “genuine and legitimate” answers to questions being put to him for “a proper and fair investigation”.

▶The judge had said that though Sisodia had joined the investigation on two earlier occasions, it has been observed that he has failed to provide satisfactory answers to most of the questions put to him during his examination and interrogation.

▶ “He has failed to legitimately explain the incriminating evidence which has allegedly surfaced against him during the investigation conducted so far,” the court had said.

▶”… a proper and fair investigation requires that some genuine and legitimate answers to the questions being put to him about the same are to be found and hence, in considered opinion of this court, this can only be done during custodial interrogation of the accused,” the judge added.

▶Manish Sisodia is the second minister from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s cabinet to be arrested after Satyendar Jain.

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