NEW DELHI: The raids came a month after Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a federal investigation into the AAP administration's effort to bring in a new excise policy to overhaul the city's liquor market citing a report from the chief secretary that alleged rules were ignored in the drafting of the policy.
Sisodia, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leaders launched a broadside, calling the searches deliberate harassment with a political motive. "It is unfortunate that those who do good work in our country are harassed like this. That is why our country has not yet become No 1," Sisodia tweeted in the morning.
The raids lasted a little more than 14 hours, after which the deputy CM told reporters that agency seized his computer and personal phone. "We cooperated with them. CBI is being misused. It is being handled from above. We have not done any corruption and we are not afraid," he said.
The minister, according to the copy of the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the agency, is among 15 people named as accused of criminal conspiracy, falsification of records and under prevention of corruption act. Three officials of excise department former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, former deputy commissioner Anand Tiwari, assistant commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar and 11 executives of some companies in liquor retail vending were also named.
Kejriwal said "nothing will come out of this", and praised Sisodia for being the "best education minister of independent India" as he cited coverage by the New York Times, which published a front-page feature on Sisodia and Delhi's schools in its international edition in the morning. "CBI is doing its work, there is no need to be scared. We should let CBI do its work, they have an order from the top to hassle us. Obstacles will come but work won't stop," said Kejriwal.
This story is from the August 20, 2022 edition of Hindustan Times.
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This story is from the August 20, 2022 edition of Hindustan Times.
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