Sisodia’s arrest is law taking its course in liquor scam, says LoP Bidhuri

New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI) Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri has said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s arrest is law taking its course, which is not surprising as a liquor scam worth thousands of rupees has taken place in the national capital.

In a statement, The LoP asserted that now Sisodia will have to answer all the questions and clear the role of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in this scam.

“Law is taking its course and that is why Sisodia has been arrested. There is nothing surprising in this. Thousands of rupees liquor scam was done in Delhi and from the arrests made so far, it was believed that Manish Sisodia would also be arrested eventually,” he said in a statement.

“The Delhi government had to withdraw the excise policy due to the liquor scam,” the BJP leader added.

Bidhuri said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kejriwal has claimed many times that Sisodia will be arrested as he knew that a liquor scam worth thousands of crores has been done.

“That’s why Sisodia was also repeatedly expressing apprehension of his arrest. Now whatever questions are there in the liquor scam, Sisodia will have to answer them. He will also have to clear the role of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in this whole scam,” he added.

After nearly eight hours of questioning, the CBI on Sunday evening arrested Delhi Dy CM Manish Sisodia in connection with the alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22 as his answers were not found to be satisfactory, officials said.

Sisodia arrived at the CBI headquarters around 11.12 am for the second round of questioning, they said.

The officials of the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch grilled the minister on various aspects of the excise policy, including his alleged link with Dinesh Arora and other accused mentioned in the FIR, and details of messages exchanged from multiple phones among others, they said.

The CBI investigators were not satisfied with Sisodia’s responses. It was claimed that he was not cooperating in the investigation and avoiding clarifications sought by officials on crucial points, leading to his arrest, they said.

The probe agency officials said it was felt that custodial interrogation was necessary to put the minister through intense questioning, they said.