Take action against L-G, Chief Secretary for false reports: Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia

“After deploying 800 officers and raiding more than 500 places, the CBI has given a clean chit to me. The L-G must be removed, action must be taken against the Chief Secretary and PM Modi should apologise for misusing investigation agencies for political gains,” Manish Sisodia said.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia demanded action against Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar whom he accused of creating false reports about the Delhi government’s now-withdrawn liquor policy.

“After deploying 800 officers and raiding more than 500 places, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has given a clean chit to me. The L-G must be removed, action must be taken against the Chief Secretary and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise for misusing investigation agencies for political gains,” Mr. Sisodia said on the sidelines of a public meeting for his party’s civic poll candidates.

“The BJP cooked up a story about a liquor scam in Delhi and kept changing the estimated worth of the so-called scam. They got the CBI to raid my house and offices while I maintained that there was no liquor scam in Delhi. Today, I am vindicated as the CBI’s charge sheet has proved that there was no scam,” Mr. Sisodia said.

AAP’s Delhi unit chief Gopal Rai said the Deputy CM was named “accused number 1” in the alleged scam by the investigating agencies under pressure from the BJP-ruled Centre in view of the elections in Delhi and Gujarat. “This lie [about Mr. Sisodia’s alleged involvement] was repeated for six months in order to defame him despite the lack of evidence,” he said.

“In March when the MCD elections were due, the BJP, fearing loss, got the elections delayed on the pretext of the MCD’s reunification. The BJP then started a campaign to defame Mr. Sisodia to tarnish AAP’s image,” the senior AAP leader added.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the CBI had only filed its preliminary charge sheet to meet the deadline. “Manish Sisodia should know that the CBI has clearly said the investigation is going on and more accused will be added [to the charge sheet],” said Mr. Kapoor.

He added that Mr. Sisodia should wait for the final charge sheet before giving himself a clean chit. “If there was nothing wrong with the policy, why was it withdrawn,” the BJP spokesperson asked.