Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Monday, 27 February, sent Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to CBI remand till 4 March in connection with the alleged liquor excise policy scam.
This comes amidst nationwide protests by AAP workers against Sisodia's arrest.
The CBI arrested Sisodia after questioning him for over seven hours on Sunday.
"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," said Delhi's CM and AAP's chief Arvind Kejriwal.
What did the court say? The court, according to media reports, said:
""It is true that he cannot be expected to make self incriminating statements, but the interests of justice and of a fair investigation require that he should come up with some legitimate answers to the questions which are being put to him by the IO."
Further, the court directed:
Sisodia’s interrogation should be conducted “at some place having CCTV coverage in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court”
The said footage (from the CCTV camera) shall be preserved by the CBI
Sisodia shall be medically examined once every 48 hours
This is to ward off fear officers employing force or third degree methods in a bid to extract information.
Further, Sisodia has been permitted to meet his advocates for an hour daily, and his wife for fifteen minutes during that said hour.
“Medicines prescribed to the accused in his MLC dated 27.02.2023 of Safdarjung Hospital are permitted to be given to him," the judge added, according to LiveLaw.
What did Sisodia's counsel argue? Arguing that the case against Sisodia was an assault not merely on him, but also on the institution, Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal said that granting remand in this case would send out a wrong message
Further, Aggarwal pointed out that Sisodia is the finance minister of Delhi and has to present the budget.
Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan, also representing Sisodia, reportedly pointed out:
"Someone is not willing to say something you want to hear is no ground for remand.”
What did the CBI say? Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Pankaj Gupta, according to Bar and Bench, argued:
“He (Manish Sisodia) was heading the Group of Ministers constituted by the cabinet for the Excise Policy...The profit margin was enhanced from 5% to 12%. He could not explain why the changes were made.”
Previous questioning: Sisodia, who is also Delhi's finance minister, was previously questioned on 19 February. He had sought a week's time for making the Delhi Budget, which the CBI had agreed to.
What's the controversy: Sisodia and others face corruption allegations in bringing a new liquor sale policy in the national capital. Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had ordered the CBI probe last year. The Delhi government reverted to the old liquor policy and blamed the Lieutenant Governor for loss of revenue worth crores of rupees.
(With inputs from Livelaw and Bar and Bench.)
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