Manish Sisodia named as accused in Delhi liquor scam

Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has been named as an accused in the CBI chargesheet in the excise policy case for the first time. The Aam Aadmi Party leader's name was included in the supplementary chargesheet filed by the central agency on Tuesday. The CBI has also named Hyderabad-based CA Buchi Babu Gorantla, liquor trader Amandeep Singh Dhall and Arjun Pandey in the supplementary chargesheet under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 201 and 420 besides provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.In its chargesheet filed before a special CBI court in New Delhi, the agency said the probe is kept open to look into larger conspiracy and role of other accused in the case.

It is alleged that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP. The policy was later scrapped. Manish Sisodia was arrested for alleged corruption in the formulation and execution of the excise policy and for laundering the money so generated. The CBI contends that liquor companies were involved in framing of the 2021 excise policy, for which kickbacks were paid by a liquor lobby it dubbed the "South Group".

Last week, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was questioned as a witness in the case for nearly nine hours by the CBI. BRS leader Ms Kavitha, who is also the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, has also been questioned in the case. Calling the liquor policy case "fabricated", Mr Kejriwal said after the questioning that the Centre was targeting AAP as it has become a national party. "They are doing all this to defame us and our good, development work," he told reporters