New Delhi : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday said that the Delhi excise scam case is a fake one since 800 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers found nothing in the four-month-long investigation. Kejriwal also added that Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has not been named in the CBI chargesheet. There have been attempts to defame him by falsely framing him in the fake case, he said.
Earlier in the day, the CBI filed the first charge sheet against seven accused in the Delhi excise policy scam. The charge sheet mentioned two arrested businessmen, the head of a news channel, a Hyderabad-based liquor businessman, a Delhi-based liquor distributor and two officials of the excise department, officials said.
Though Sisodia's name figure in the CBI FIR, he does not figure in the present charge sheet which is filed within 60 days of the probe agency taking the investigation. The accused have been charged under IPC section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act, officials said. The agency has kept the probe open related to the role of others, broader conspiracy with licensees, the money trail, cartelisation, and larger conspiracy in framing and executing the controversial excise policy in the national capital which was rolled back.
Dinesh Arora, who was allegedly a "close associate" of Sisodia has been made approver in the case. Arora recorded his statement under section 164 of the CrPC before the magistrate. He was granted a pardon by a special court for helping in the investigation. Earlier in August, the CBI registered a case against 15 people and carried out searches at various places.
The Delhi Government's New Excise policy that granted licenses to liquor traders was allegedly influenced in favour of certain dealers who had paid bribes for it. However, this charge was strongly refuted by the Aam Aadmi Party. Other than Sisodia, the CBI has also named then excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, the then deputy excise commissioner Anand Kumar Tiwari, assistant excise commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar, nine businessmen and two companies as accused in the case. The agency has also alleged that Sisodia and other accused public servants recommended and took decisions pertaining to the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 without the approval of competent authority with "an intention to extend undue favours to the licensees post tender".
