Former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia sent to judicial custody till March 20, will be lodged in Tihar

New Delhi, March 6

Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was on Monday sent to judicial custody till March 20 in the excise scam case by a special court here after the CBI said it didn’t need his custody for now.

lodged in jail No. 1

• Sisodia will be lodged in central jail No. 1 of Tihar prison complex
• Allowed to carry Bhagavad Gita, spectacles and medicines to jail
• Asks the jail authorities to allow him to do Vipassana meditation

Political slugfest

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CBI has no grounds to seek Sisodia’s interrogation: AAP

CM Kejriwal must quit over the excise policy scam: BJP

It’s a serious case, must be thoroughly probed: Congress

Court won’t restrict media coverage

If the media is reporting, it can’t be stopped… As long as protests are peaceful, it’s fine. MK Nagpal, special judge

“An application to send the accused to judicial custody has been filed. It is submitted that the CBI custody is no longer required and the same may be sought later, if required. In view of submission made, the accused is sent to judicial custody till March 20,” Special Judge MK Nagpal said.

Allowing Sisodia to carry the Bhagavad Gita, spectacles, medicines, etc. to jail, the Special Judge also directed the Tihar Jail authorities to consider his request for being allowed to do Vipassana meditation.

Arrested on February 26 by the CBI in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Liquor Policy 2021-22, Sisodia, who joins his former Cabinet colleague Satyendar Jain in Tihar Jail, was in the probe agency’s custody till today. “We are not seeking custody right now. But we may do so in the future. Their supporters and the media are politicising the matter…. Witnesses are terrified. Media is giving it a political colour,” the CBI said.

“I am appalled by a submission like this. Are they scared of the media?” asked senior counsel Mohit Mathur, who represented Sisodia. The court made it clear that it couldn’t stop the media from reporting the matter. “If the media is reporting, it can’t be stopped… As long as protests are peaceful, it’s fine,” Special Judge Nagpal said.

Earlier, Sisodia was produced before the Special Judge on expiry of his seven-day custodial interrogation. The Special Court had on Saturday extended his CBI remand by two days to facilitate his further interrogation. It had also issued notice to the CBI on Sisodia’s bail plea and directed the probe agency to file its response by March 10, the next date of hearing, when the bail petition is likely to be taken up. During the probe, the CBI has confronted Sisodia with his former Secretary C Arvind and the then Excise Commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna to get to the bottom of the scam.

Along with Sisodia, the CBI had also named Arva Gopi Krishna; Anand Tiwari, then Deputy Commissioner (excise); Pankaj Bhatnagar, Assistant Commissioner (excise); Vijay Nair, former CEO; Only Much Louder, an entertainment and event management company; Manoj Rai, ex-employee of Pernod Ricard; Amandeep Dhal, director, Brindco Sales Private Ltd, and Sameer Mahendru, managing director, Indospirit Group, as accused in the FIR. Sisodia, who was in charge of the Excise Department, was, however, not mentioned as an accused in the chargesheet filed in the case on November 25 last year, but the probe agency had kept the probe open against him and other suspects and accused.