‘800 officers found nothing’, Sisodia slams Centre as CBI, ED gives clean chit in Delhi excise case

New Delhi, Nov 26: Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia on Saturday took a swipe at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after his name did not figure in the initial chargesheet filed by the central agency over the ongoing inquiry into the Delhi liquor policy case.

Taking to micro-blogging platform Twitter, Sisodia said that even after 800 officers raided 500 places, they didn't manage to level any allegations against him.

"They got the Chief Secretary to draft a false report, following which, the LG [Lieutenant Governor] forwarded a false FIR. Now that neither CBI nor ED have found anything against me, the LG should be removed and the Chief Secretary should be suspended," Sisodia wrote.

Earlier in the day, reacting to the ED's chargesheet, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet wrote,''After CBI, ED gives clean chit to Manish Sisodia. Shouldn't PM Modi apologise to the country for implicating Manish Sisodia, the man who made India famous in the world through the education revolution, in a false case?.''

On Friday, the CBI filed its first chargesheet in the Delhi excise policy case naming seven accused persons - Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Sameer Mahendru, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Mootha Gautham, and two public servants - then Deputy Commissioner in the Excise Department, Kuldeep Singh, and then Assistant Commissioner in the Excise Department, Narender Singh, as reported by PTI.

The agency alleged Amit Arora, Director of Buddy Retail Pvt Limited in Gurgaon, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey are "close associates" of Sisodia and were "actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees" for the accused public servants.

The agency has alleged that Sisodia and other accused public servants recommended and took decisions pertaining to the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 without the approval of competent authority with "an intention to extend undue favours to the licensees post tender".