Delhi excise case: No LOC issued against Manish Sisodia as of now, clarifies CBI

New Delhi, Aug 21: The Central Bureau of Investigation has not issued a Look Out Circular "as of now" against any accused including Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy scam case. According to the officials, the process of scrutinising documents is going on and notices are being issued to suspects for questioning.

This comes after Sisodia claimed a lookout notice against him in the excise policy case being probed by the CBI and termed the move a "drama" as the agency found "nothing" during a raid at his residence on Friday.

"As of now" no Look Out Circulars (LOC) have been issued against any of the accused in the case, the officials said. The CBI has also not felt the need to issue an LOC against public servants so far because they cannot leave the country without intimating the government, they said.

Sisodia is among 15 individuals and entities named in an FIR registered by the CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Delhi government's Excise Policy 2021-22.

The agency on Friday carried out searches at 31 places including Sisodia's residence and premises of some bureaucrats and businessmen. Under the CBI scanner are at least two payments worth crores of rupees allegedly made to "close associates" of Sisodia by Sameer Mahendru, the owner of Indospirits, who was one of the liquor traders actively involved in alleged irregularities.

The FIR alleged Sisodia's "close associates" -- Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail Pvt. Limited in Gurugram, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey -- were "actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees" to the accused public servants.

The CBI raids on Friday, that went on for nearly 15 hours, came after Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena last month recommended a probe by the agency into the alleged violations of rules and procedural lapses in the implementation of the policy that came into effect from November 17 last year.

The Delhi government withdrew the policy in July after Saxena recommended the probe.