Delhi Excise Policy case: CBI files charge sheet against Sisodia

In more trouble for the arrested and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet in the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy case against four persons, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader.

A CBI source said that the agency has named Sisodia for the first time in its charge sheet.

Besides Sisodia, the CBI has named businessman and top executive of Brindco Amandeep Dahl, Butchi Babu, the former auditor of BRS leader K Kavitha, and Arjun Pandey. Among the four, Butchi Babu has been directed to be released on bail.

The fresh charge sheet in the case comes days after the CBI questioned Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for over nine hours in connection with the case.

The CBI had earlier questioned K Kavitha, a BRS leader and daughter of Telangana Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, in December last year in Hyderabad in connection with the case.

The CBI registered a First Information Report (FIR) on August 17 last year against Sisodia and 14 others for an investigation into the matter of alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy for the year 2021–22 and extending post-tender benefits to private persons.

Searches were also conducted at the premises of the accused at several locations, including Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Bengaluru, etc., which led to the recovery of incriminating documents or articles and digital records.

Earlier, a charge sheet was filed on November 25, 2022, against the CEO of a Mumbai-based private company and six others, including the then Deputy Commissioner (Excise), GNCTD, the then Assistant Commissioner (Excise), GNCTD, etc.

This is the second supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI in the case, which is accompanied by lists of witnesses as well as documents and articles.

According to the CBI, Sisodia, who is currently in judicial custody, played the most important and vital role in the criminal conspiracy. They said that Sisodia had been deeply involved in the formulation as well as the implementation of the said policy to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the said conspiracy.

The ED also arrested Sisodia on March 9 in connection with the case and filed three supplementary charge sheets in connection with the case. The ED has arrested over a dozen people in connection with the case.