New Delhi: AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj Sunday claimed the CBI was “torturing” senior party leader Manish Sisodia and pressuring him to sign papers containing false charges.
Another AAP leader Atishi claimed that the CBI’s actions brings to the fore its “failure” to prove any corruption charge against the former deputy chief minister. She also alleged that CBI arrested Sisodia to “please their political bosses”.
The federal probe agency arrested Sisodia February 26 for allegedly not cooperating in the investigation into the Delhi excise policy case and being evasive on questions from investigators. A special CBI court on Saturday extended the custody of Sisodia till March 6.
February 28, Sisodia resigned from the Arvind Kejriwal-led cabinet.
According to officials, the agency wants to utilise Sisodia’s custody to locate the crucial missing file containing legal opinions on the expert committee recommendations on the excise policy, which remains untraceable even now.
“Manish Sisodia is being tortured by the CBI and being pressured to sign the documents containing false charges framed against him. CBI has no evidence against Sisodia. They never mentioned any evidence is missing. They raided his residence but found nothing,” Bhardwaj told reporters here on Sunday.
Sisodia, who was produced before the court on Saturday on the expiry of his five-day CBI custody, claimed that he was “sitting for eight to nine hours and answering the same questions again and again” and termed it “mental harassment”.
To this, the judge, who had in the last hearing directed the CBI not to use the third degree on the accused, told the probe agency not to ask the “same questions again and again”. “If you have something new, ask him,” the judge said.
Atishi on Sunday alleged, “Manish Sisodia was not named in the CBI’s first charge sheet, nor was his name mentioned in CBI’s supplementary charge sheet. Neither the CBI nor the ED has any evidence against him. CBI arrested Manish Sisodia without any evidence to please its political masters.”
The senior AAP leader also accused the BJP of controlling central agencies such as the CBI and ED. “The whole country is watching how Manish Sisodia is being subjected to mental torture and threats due to the BJP’s false allegations,” she said.
Reacting to the statements of AAP leaders, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the arrest of the former deputy chief minister has “shaken the entire Aam Aadmi Party”.
“Sisodia is now trapped and it would be better if the Aam Aadmi Party apologizes to the public for his misdeeds instead of getting bail for its corrupt leader,” Kapoor said.
PTI