Manish Sisodia Arrested: Kejriwal’s fresh claim about CBI; BJP says ‘fears heat will…’

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claimed that officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the excise policy case were against deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s arrest but had to “obey their political masters” because of immense pressure.

Kejriwal said that the CBI officers “have a huge respect” for Sisodia and that there was “no evidence against him,” a claimed dismissed by BJP as fabricated.

“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,” Kejriwal said in a tweet.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said the Delhi chief minister had also spread such “fake news” regarding Intelligence Bureau (IB) during the Gujarat assembly election.

“Now everyone knows that whatever you write and say is fabricated.. Let the law work, the heat of investigation on the Liquor Minister’s liquor scam will further spread, this is your fear too, isn’t it?” Tiwari said in a tweet in Hindi.

On Sunday, CBI arrested Sisodia in connection with alleged irregularities with an old liquor policy in a major escalation between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the city and the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre. Sisodia is the second minister of the Delhi government to be arrested by a federal agency, a move that AAP said was in offing as part of a political plot against the party.

Sisodia “gave evasive replies and did not co-operate [with] the investigation despite being confronted with evidence to the contrary. Therefore, he has been arrested,” said a statement issued by CBI spokesperson RC Joshi.

Sisodia was due to be produced in a special court on Monday amid tight security.