Delhi Excise Policy: Sisodia destroyed mobiles before raid? The CBI took action based on these six points

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Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, was arrested on Sunday in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam. Sisodia, who is the main accused in the case, was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for nearly eight hours before his arrest. The CBI will present him before a special court on Monday and seek his remand.

Sisodia was arrested under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 477A (falsification of accounts) of the IPC including Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched an investigation into Delhi's excise policy and alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the policy, and licensees were given undue benefits. The license fee was waived or reduced, and the L-1 license was extended without the approval of the competent authority.

It is further alleged that the beneficiaries gave illegal benefits to the accused and made wrong entries in the accounts. The excise department had decided to refund the earnest deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful bidder against the prescribed norms. The tender license fee was exempted from December 28, 2021 to January 27, 2022, due to the coronavirus pandemic, causing a loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the government exchequer.

During the interrogation, Sisodia could not give satisfactory answers on digital evidence and witness statements, and he tried to evade answering most of the investigating agency's questions. Before the raid, Sisodia, along with other accused, also destroyed mobile phones. Dinesh Arora, who became a government witness in the interrogation, could not refute the statement.

The CBI and the ED took up the case on the recommendation of the Lieutenant Governor. The investigation alleges that Sisodia and others conspired to commit fraud and received illegal benefits from licensees. The CBI has been conducting raids in several places, including the offices of Delhi's excise department, since the investigation began.