Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will be lodged in central jail number 1 of Tihar jail here after a Delhi court remanded him to judicial custody till March 20 in connection with the excise policy case, according to officials.
On Monday, Mr. Sisodia was produced before special judge M. K. Nagpal on the expiry of his seven-day custodial interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The agency told the court that it did not require the custody of Mr. Sisodia for now.
According to Tihar jail PRO, Mr. Sisodia will be lodged in jail number 1. “We will also see the specific order if any,” the PRO said.
Meanwhile, political firestorm over it refused to die down with the AAP alleging that by not requesting custody of Mr. Sisodia, the CBI has shown that they “lack” any evidence against him and the BJP burnt bonfires of “corruption” of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who they have been calling the “mastermind of liquor scam”.
The court also allowed Mr. Sisodia to carry a copy of the Bhagvad Gita, spectacles and medicines, etc. to jail and directed the Tihar jail authorities to consider his request to be allowed to do Vipassana meditation.
The court will hear Mr. Sisodia’s bail plea on March 10.
Senior AAP leader Atishi said, “This [not requesting for custody] was because the agency has no concrete proof and their only strategy was to coerce him into signing a false confession within seven days of police custody.”
Ms. Atishi said that the “BJP-controlled CBI” despite arresting Mr. Sisodia with much fanfare, did not have any evidence to substantiate its allegations against him. “In previous court hearing, Manish Sisodia had made it clear that CBI was asking him the same questions and harassing him without any evidence. As the CBI does not have any documentary evidence against Manish Sisodia, it is forced to ask the same questions repeatedly,” she said.
The BJP claimed that bonfires of corruption of Mr. Kejriwal, the “mastermind of liquor scam”, were burnt in all 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi.
“Not only the BJP, but the people of Delhi are also demanding that Kejriwal who is immersed in corruption should resign. Holika Dahan of Aam Aadmi Party leaders who have become symbols of liquor scam and corruption is necessary for the development of Delhi,” BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said.
Mr. Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26 in connection with the allegation of irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped 2021-22 excise policy case. He was later sent to CBI custody.
