A Delhi court on Monday sent Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to five-day Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody in the excise policy scam case till March 4 even as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers held protest demonstrations against the BJP-led Central government in several parts of the country over Sisodia’s arrest.

The CBI on Sunday arrested Sisodia in connection with the alleged Delhi liquor excise policy case after eight hours of questioning.

Special judge MK Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Courts, who had reserved his order after arguments from both sides, pronounced his order sending Sisodia to custody till March 4.

Appearing for the CBI, Special Public Prosecutor Pankaj Gupta argued: “Investigation has revealed that Sisodia verbally directed the Secretary to put a new cabinet note to bring about the change and variance in the policy. He was heading the Group of Ministers constituted by the cabinet for the Excise Policy…The profit margin was enhanced from 5 per cent to 12 per cent. He could not explain why the changes were made.”

He said that the agency was asking for his phone which he has been using since January 2020.

Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, appearing for Sisodia, said: “Their grounds for remand are not tenable in law at all. All the arguments about profit margin were approved by the LG. The LG, who is the complainant in the case, approved it in May 2021.”

As the CBI had alleged that Sisodia destroyed three of his four phones, Krishnan said that the agency claimed Sisodia used four phones, three of which are destroyed, asking what was his client supposed to do – keep those phones in anticipation that the agency will come and arrest him?

“Their case is I did not answer in the way they wanted me to answer. I will show why that is not a ground for remand. If your lordships grant remand for self-incrimination then that would be a travesty,” he said.

The AAP on Monday held nationwide protests across the country against the arrest of the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister by the CBI in connection with the alleged corruption in the now-scrapped excise policy.

Protests were staged in Chandigarh, Delhi, Bhopal, and other cities amid heavy police deployment.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claimed that many officers of the Central probe agency were against Sisodia’s arrest.

The “political pressure” to arrest Sisodia was so high that they had to obey their “political masters”, Kejriwal added.

“I am told that most CBI officers were against Manish’s arrest. All of them have huge respect for him and there is no evidence against him. But the political pressure to arrest him was so high that they had to obey their political masters,” the chief minister said in a tweet.