Sisodia sent to 5-day CBI custody in Delhi liquor policy case: 10 points

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested on Sunday, was sent to 5-day CBI custody on Monday. Sisodia was arrested after several hours of questioning by the CBI in the Delhi Excise police 'scam'.

New Delhi: In a big setback to Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the CBI on Sunday in the Delhi liquor police 'scam', was sent to 5-day CBI custody by the court today. Special CBI judge MK Nagpal after hearing the arguments from both sides sent Sisodia to CBI custody till March 4. This was exactly what CBI had sought from the court. Senior Advocates Mohit Mathur and Dayan Krishnan were representing Manish Sisodia.

Here are the top 10 points in this big story

1. During the hearing, Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan representing Sisodia opposed the remand application. "If someone is not willing to say something, that can't be a ground for arrest," he said. Meanwhile, CBI, while seeking 5-day remand said, "conspiracy was hatched in a very planned and secret manner".
2. The CBI during the hearing told the court that Manish Sisodia was "accused number 1 in the FIR". Investigation revealed that Sisodia removed the opinion of the legal expert from draft notice, the CBI said. The agency sought custody of Sisodia for “proper investigation” as it claimed that the Delhi deputy CM did not answer the CBI questions properly on Sunday.
3. The CBI also told the court that Sisodia changed his mobile phones. They also alleged that in the implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, the policy margin was increased and eligibility criteria were altered. Meanwhile, Sisodia’s counsel argued that the reason that his client could not explain the reason for changes brought in the excise policy was not a ground for remand.
4. "CBI is showing call logs, but show us any phone calls to me, they are alleging that I destroyed my phone. I'm a minister. I can't give my phone for second-hand use. It will have confidential data and it can't be ground," Sisodia's lawyer said. "There can't be self-incrimination, custody cannot be granted because I did not self incriminates. Someone not answering a question cannot be ground for custody," said Krishnan appearing for Sisodia.
5. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan lashed out at the BJP over Sisodia's arrest, and said the Central agencies were being used to intimidate the opposition parties and termed it as an attack on democracy. Similarly, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren termed the arrest as another "brazen attempt" by the BJP-led central government to suppress democratically elected state governments.
6. Like Sunday, the AAP furore over the matter continued on Monday as well with party leaders and workers staging massive protests in the capital city. Security was beefed up at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg here since Monday morning as the AAP had called for a protest at the BJP office.
7. Police had detained several AAP workers with the party alleging that 80 per cent of its leaders were held by Delhi Police since Sunday, and questioned whether anyone can be detained for more than 24 hours. On Sunday, police had detained around 50 AAP leaders including MP Sanjay Singh and minister Gopal Rai.
8. All of them were protesting close to the CBI office where Sisodia was being questioned for around 8 hours before being arrested on Sunday evening. On Monday, Delhi police said it had released all AAP leaders detained on Sunday. AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj, meanwhile, said the arrest of AAP leaders was "illegal" and drew a parallel with Indira Gandhi's emergency era.
9. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has maintained that Sisodia has been arrested for his non-cooperation in the probe into the alleged irregularities in the liquor policy case. The central agency has levelled accusations against the Delhi Deputy CM with regard to alleged fraud in the framing and implementation of the Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.
10. Amid high drama, Manish Sisodia was declared arrested after over eight hours of grilling by the CBI officials at their office. On his part, the deputy of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal stuck to his stand that false charges were being levelled against him out of political considerations. Kejriwal had given a call for the party cadres to stand by the side of Sisodia's family in this hour of hardship.