New Delhi:
Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has left the office of the Central Bureau of Investigation after nearly nine hours of questioning in the liquor policy case. In some relief to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which has been bracing for his arrest, the agency has not summoned him for a second session.
Mr Sisodia’s house was subject to multiple searches by the agency in August after it got a go-ahead for investigation from Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. The Deputy Chief Minister is the prime accused in the case, which involves alleged kickbacks to political leaders by private players in exchange for liquor shop licenses.
AAP has declared that Mr Sisodia will now be arrested in what they termed “political vendetta” of the BJP. The party, AAP alleged, is “scared” about the outcome of the assembly election in Gujarat and wants to stop Mr Sisodia from campaigning in the state.
Party chief and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has claimed that the BJP plans to keep Mr Sisodia in jail till after the Gujarat elections. But no jail can keep his deputy in, he added. “Prison locks will break, Manish Sisodia will be free,” he tweeted in Hindi.
Earlier today, several AAP leaders, including MP Sanjay Singh, were detained after they held a massive protest against the questioning of Manish Sisodia. Around 100 leaders and workers were detained from outside the CBI office.