AAP Leader Manish Sisodia Sent To Judicial Custody Till March 20 In Excise Scam Case

NEW DELHI, Mar 6: The Rouse Avenue Court on Monday sent Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia to judicial custody till March 20, in the case pertaining to the Delhi excise policy case.
“At this stage, we are not seeking further CBI remand but in the next 15 days we might seek it,” the CBI counsel said. “Searches were conducted, warrant taken, accused was produced before court & court is being informed about everything. On the other side, it’s being said that CBI is doing an illegal act,” the counsel added.
“If they feel that something is illegal, they can challenge it,” the court said.
The former deputy chief minister of Delhi was arrested by the CBI on February 26 in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. Following the arrest, he resigned from his post as the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi on February 28.
On March 4, the Rouse Avenue Court extended the CBI remand of Sisodia in the Delhi liquor scam case. The Special Judge MK Nagpal had granted two more days of remand of Manish Sisodia to CBI.
Rouse Avenue Court earlier while sending Sisodia to CBI remand directed that the interrogation of the accused during the remand period shall be conducted at some place having CCTV coverage in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court and the said footage shall be preserved by the CBI.
AAP has accused the CBI of mentally torturing former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and forcing him to sign a false confession paper in custody.
Following the arrest of Manish Sisodia, leaders of nine opposition parties, including Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging “blatant misuse” of central agencies against the members of the opposition. The signatories of the letter are Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Bannerjee, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Farooq Abdullah (Jammu & Kashmir National Conference), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena, UBT) and Akhilesh Yadav of Samajwadi Party.
“The blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy… the misuse of central agencies and constitutional offices like that of the Governor – to settle scores outside of the electoral battlefield is strongly condemnable as it does not bode well for our democracy,” the letter said. (Agencies)