Manish Sisodia is being presented in a CBI court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has sought custody of Manish Sisodia for five days. The Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi was arrested in the liquor scam yesterday and has been named as the accused number one in the agency's chargesheet.
Here are the latest updates in this big story:
The agency has told a Delhi court that Manish Sisodia has been giving evasive replies to their questions on the liquor scam. He failed to explain at least six contentious provisions in the liquor policy that were not part of the first draft. The agency contends that the changes were made at the behest of a liquor lobby in exchange for kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore.
The agency has told the court that a draft note was recovered from the computer of Mr Sisodia, which shows that the profit margin clause for was changed from 5 per cent to 12 per cent. Investigation revealed that Mr Sisodia gave the draft note to the excise commissioner and removed the opinion of the legal expert from draft note, the agency has alleged.
Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, who is representing Mr Sisodia questioned if inability to answer the CBI's questions can be a ground for remand. "Their case is that I did not confess. That's their case. They expect me to answer the way they want. There cannot be self incrimination.Custody cannot be granted because I didn't self incriminate," he argued.
Aam Aadmi Party workers and supporters, meanwhile, took to the streets in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Bhopal, and several other cities to protest against Manish Sisodia's arrest by the CBI. Chaotic scenes were witnessed near the BJP headquarters in New Delhi as police detained several of the protesters.
As AAP protestors tried to march towards the BJP office in Delhi, the police blocked their way. Several protesters who tried to climb the barricades were detained. Visuals from the spot showed the police personnel shoving AAP workers into 10-15 buses.
In a tweet, AAP alleged that "PM Modi's Police forcibly enter the AAP office to arrest AAP volunteers" and called it an "Emergency-like situation".
Manish Sisodia faces corruption allegations in bringing a new liquor sale policy in the national capital. The CBI contends that liquor companies had involved in drafting parts of the 2021 policy, for which kickbacks to the tune of Rs 30 crore were paid by a liquor lobby it dubbed the "South Group".
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Mr Sisodia yesterday after questioning him for eight hours on Sunday in the Delhi liquor policy case.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he has learnt "most CBI officers" were against arresting his deputy Manish Sisodia and were forced to do so, without evidence, because of "political pressure".
Mr Sisodia spent the night at the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation in Delhi. A team of doctors from AIIMS conducted a medical examination of the AAP leader at the CBI headquarters due to security reasons.
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