Manish Sisodia’s CBI questioning today; to be arrested, claims Arvind Kejriwal

Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia will be questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the alleged excise policy scam case on Sunday.

While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said that Sisodia will fully cooperate with the investigation and asserted that it is a “hardcore honest” party, reports indicated that the probe agency has prepared an exhaustive set of questions for the minister, who also holds the finance portfolio in the Delhi Cabinet, amid apprehensions of his arrest.

Sisodia was originally summoned last Sunday, but he had sought deferment of his questioning, citing the ongoing budget exercise. Following his request, the CBI had asked him to appear on February 26.

“Tomorrow, Manish Sisodia will go for the CBI inquiry and will fully cooperate with them. In the last eight to 10 years, almost 150-200 cases have been filed against AAP leaders. But they (Centre) have not been able to prove corruption of even a single penny against our leaders. This is because the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is a hardcore honest party,” AAP MLA Atishi told reporters on Saturday.

Sisodia has expressed apprehensions that the central investigation agencies might arrest him. “They are using the CBI to take revenge and I am sure they will do that by getting me arrested,” he had alleged.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday claimed that his sources have confirmed that his deputy will be arrested on Sunday by the CBI. “The CBI has called Manish Sisodia for questioning. Our sources are saying that he will be arrested on Sunday… It is very sad,” Kejriwal said ABP Network’s ‘Ideas of India’ Summit.

Hailing Sisodia for improving the education system in Delhi, Kejriwal said, “Manish is the person, who after 75 years of independence has given hope to the poor people of this country that their children can also have a good future. Today in Delhi, the children of the poor are becoming doctors, engineers and lawyers. Manish Sisodia has given a lot of hope to them.”

Sisodia was earlier examined for a day on October 17 last year, nearly a month before the central probe agency had filed its charge sheet against seven people, including middlemen and liquor traders, in which the minister was not listed as accused, but the agency had kept the probe into his alleged role open.

Nearly three months after filing its charge sheet, the CBI will question Sisodia on various aspects of the now-scrapped excise policy, his alleged links with liquor traders, and politicians, and claims made by witnesses in their statements.