The CBI on Friday searched the residence of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia as part of countrywide raids related to an alleged liquor licence scam, prompting the Aam Aadmi Party to hold news conferences and protests alleging a political motive.
The raids come at a time central investigative agencies have questioned or arrested senior politicians from multiple Opposition parties.
Friday’s searches began early in the morning to probe alleged corruption by Delhi public servants and liquor traders in connection with the state government’s now-shelved liquor policy. The raid at Sisodia’s Mathura Road residence, which began at 8.30am, ended around 10.30pm.
The action comes a day after The New York Times (NYT) published a report on improvements in government schools in Delhi with a photo of Sisodia on the front page of its international edition.
The BJP called it “paid promotion”. “How is it that New York Times and Khaleej Times carry exactly the same article, word by word, authored by the same person, same pictures (that too of a private school) on Delhi’s non-existent education model?” BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya asked in a tweet. “Arvind Kejriwal’s best defence is nothing but paid promotion...,” he added.
Several newspapers, including The Telegraph, subscribe to the New York Times News Service, which allows republication of content. This is a normal practice in journalism worldwide.
The New York Times said on Friday that its report was based on “impartial and on-the-ground reporting”. Its external communications director Nicole Tylor told PTI in an email: “Our report about efforts to improve Delhi’s education system is based on impartial, on-the-ground reporting. Journalism from The New York Times is always independent, free from political or advertiser influence.”
On the charge that the same story was also published by the Khaleej Times, Tylor clarified: “Other news outlets routinely license and republish our coverage.”
The BJP’s South Delhi MP, Ramesh Bidhuri, dubbed the reporter a “Khalistani supporter”. The reporter was part of a team that was named a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting.
The Congress, an AAP rival, also sought to question the report, citing the latest Delhi Economic Survey, which shows that private schools’ share of enrolment has risen steadily since 2014-15.
The CBI said it had raided 31 premises across the country and filed a case against Sisodia, four Delhi excise officials and 10 liquor licensees as well as their associates and other unknown people.
In a webcast at noon, AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said: “Manishji was declared the best education minister today, and this morning the CBI came to greet him with a raid. But we will fight these hurdles. It was no easy task for him to be praised in The New York Times. He has been subjected to so many raids over the years.”
Kejriwal added: “We have all been met with raids for working with honesty. They have foisted so many fake cases on us. They have raided my house, they have taken away Satyendar Jain, they have raided Kailash Gahlot and so many of our leaders. They found nothing then; they will find nothing now.”
Jain and Gahlot are ministers in Kejriwal’s cabinet. Jain, who was health minister, is in judicial custody and is being investigated for money laundering. Sisodia handles the education portfolio, and now health as well. Both sectors are key to the AAP’s Delhi model which it hopes to ride to expand in India.
After the CBI raided the office of the chief minister’s principal secretary in 2015, Kejriwal had tweeted: “Modi is a coward and a psychopath.”
The controversial liquor policy under which Delhi’s PSUs had exited the booze trade had been in force from November 2021 till its withdrawal in July this year.
The rollback came after lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena requested a CBI probe following a report from chief secretary Naresh Kumar that alleged corruption in the allocation of new liquor licences to private parties.
Sisodia wrote to the CBI earlier this month alleging the previous lieutenant governor, Anil Baijal, had added a last-minute change to the liquor policy. This required state-licensed liquor shops to additionally obtain the approval of the BJP-held municipal bodies and the Centre’s Delhi Development Authority. Sisodia said this had led to losses to the exchequer.
Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia with CBI officials at his residence in New Delhi on Friday. PTI picture
Baijal insists he had only followed the law by disallowing liquor shops in “non-conforming” areas, and that the AAP government had fudged figures to claim record revenues from excise in defence of its policy.
Saxena has suspended 11 excise officials including some who were raided on Friday.
The CBI statement said: “It was alleged that irregularities were committed including in modifications in excise policy, extending undue favours to the licensees, waiver/ reduction in licence fee, extension of L-1 licence without approval, etc.
“It was further alleged that illegal gains on count of these acts were diverted to concerned public servants by private parties and making false entries in their books of accounts.
“Searches are being conducted today at 31 locations including in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Bengaluru which, so far, have led to recovery of incriminating documents/ articles, digital records, etc.”
A CBI official said in the evening: “No cash recovery has been made so far and the searches will continue. Raids are still being conducted at several locations.
“A liquor trader allegedly paid Rs 1 crore to a company managed by an associate of Sisodia. He (Sisodia) is number one on the list of 15 people named as accused in the FIR. There are several beneficiaries of the scam, including public servants.”
The charges listed in the FIR include criminal conspiracy and falsification of documents.
The FIR says Sisodia and others were instrumental in recommending and taking decisions relating to the excise policy for the year 2021-2022 without the approval of the competent authority, and with an intention to extend undue, post-tender favours to the licensees.
“Sisodia, who is the excise minister, introduced a new policy on who would be allowed to sell alcohol without the permission of the lieutenant governor, who is the Centre’s representative in Delhi,” a CBI source said.
The CBI claimed to have seized confidential official files and documents relating to the new excise policy from the home of a “public servant”. Sources said these documents were not supposed to be at the residence of the government servant. The agency has so far not revealed the location where these documents were seized.
AAP parliamentarian Sanjay Singh told a news conference: “The BJP has given a clear message to the entire country through their distress and insecurities that the 2024 general election is going to be AAP versus BJP.
“The Prime Minister’s frustration also proves that the 2024 general election is going to be Modi versus Kejriwal. I am saying this because the moment Arvind Kejriwal set his sights on Gujarat to establish the model which has brought remarkable development to Delhi and Punjab, the Prime Minister has become extremely offensive. He has belittled the poor people in the process by calling welfare schemes ‘free ki rewri’.”
BJP parliamentarian Parvesh Verma seemed to issue a veiled threat to Sisodia at a news conference.
“My friendly advice to Manish Sisodia is to see poor Satyendar Jain. He has even lost his memory…. He can neither talk nor walk properly,” he said.
“Either Manish Sisodia becomes a prosecution witness — then I will try to request my government to reduce his sentence — or my friendly advice to him is to start yoga and pranayama because deputy chief ministers are not given such facilities in Tihar jail.”
Devices seized
Soon after the CBI left his home, Sisodia told reporters: “They searched my house and seized my computer and phone. My family cooperated with them and will continue to cooperate. We have not done any corruption or wrongdoing. We are not afraid. We know that the CBI is being misused.”
