Reacting to the CBI raids at the office of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday said the main aim of the BJP-led Central government is to defame Arvind Kejriwal, his government and their leaders, adding that BJP is trying to punish latter for providing better education to lakhs of children in the national capital.
“The main aim of the BJP-led Modi government is to defame Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP government and their leaders and because of this Manish Sisodia who is one of the best education ministers, who is working to give education to lakhs of children of Delhi. They conducted raids at Manish Sisodia’s house, village and bank locker and they found nothing,” he said. He further said that earlier also CBI had conducted raids at several locations related to Manish Sisodia but they had found nothing.
“Earlier also CBI had conducted raids at Sisodia’s office but they found nothing. And suddenly on Saturday when the office is closed, the CBI came to conduct raids. This time also, they will not find anything,” he added.
The AAP leader said, “Manish Sisodia never indulged in corruption. He is doing good work of giving education to lakhs of students in Delhi and BJP is trying to punish him for that.”
CBI raids are underway at the office of AAP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia at the Delhi Secretariat on Saturday.
“Today again CBI has reached my office. They are welcome. They raided my house, raided my office, searched my locker, and even searched my village. Nothing has been found against me and nothing will be found because I have not done anything wrong. Sincerely worked for the education of the children of Delhi,” tweeted Sisodia in Hindi.
Last year in August, the CBI conducted a search operation at Sisodia’s Punjab National Bank locker in connection with Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 money laundering case, where according to him the CBI had found nothing.
Several raids were also conducted at 21 places in Delhi and the National Capital Region including the residence of Sisodia and the premises of four public servants last year, according to a CBI official. The official said that raids were conducted in locations across 7 states.
The probe was done after taking into account a report forwarded by the Chief Secretary to Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommending a CBI investigation into the matter.
The excise policy was passed in Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Cabinet in the middle of the deadly Delta Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. The Delhi government’s version is that the policy was formulated to ensure the generation of optimum revenue, and eradicate the sale of spurious liquor or non-duty paid liquor in Delhi, besides improving user experience.
Following LG’s recommendation, the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Delhi Police’s Economic Offence Wing (EOW) issued a notice to Delhi’s Excise Commissioner asking him to provide all documents relating to the award of liquor licenses under the new excise policy.