The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday did not ask for further custody of AAP Senior Leader Shri Manish Sisodia. The Aam Aadmi Party has asserted that it was an admission that the agency does not have any more questions to ask the former Education Minister. Hitting out at the BJP-controlled CBI, AAP Senior Leader Ms Atishi said that despite arresting the Shri Manish Sisodia with much fanfare, the investigative agency does not have any evidence to substantiate its allegations against him.
Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Monday sent Shri Manish Sisodia to judicial custody till March 20 in the excise policy case – after his CBI custody of seven days ended. During the hearing, the CBI told the court that they are not seeking Shri Manish Sisodia’s further remand for the next 15 days. The lack of concrete evidence in the case has raised concerns about the credibility of the investigation.
Ms Atishi further stated that even after raiding the former Education Minister’s house, office, locker, and his native village earlier, the CBI has not found any evidence to implicate him. Despite the full-time involvement of nearly 250 CBI officers for over a year in investigating the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, the agency has not been able to prove the corruption charges against Shri Manish Sisodia.
Ms Atishi reiterated that Shri Manish Sisodia had himself directly addressed the trial court during the last court hearing and said that he was being mentally tortured in custody through prolonged and repetitive questioning for eight to nine hours every day.
The AAP leader questioned the CBI’s repeated questioning and harassment of Shri Manish Sisodia despite not finding any evidence against him. She said that this 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. However, by choosing not to request police custody today, the CBI has demonstrated that they lack any evidence to support their case against Shri Manish Sisodia and have run out of questions to pose.
Meanwhile, AAP MLA Shri Kuldeep Kumar said that the CBI had nothing to say in court today. He added that the whole country knows on whose behest the CBI has been acting so far. Shri Manish Sisodia has given the entire country an excellent model of education, and keeping such a person in jail, will earn the BJP the ire of lakhs of children and their parents. The CBI has investigated everything and yet they have no evidence. He concluded by saying that eventually the truth of the matter will be there in front of everyone to see.
