Delhi’s former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who is now lodged in Tihar jail, has been kept in a senior citizen’s cell and is under CCTV surveillance. On Monday, a special CBI court sent the 51-year-old AAP leader to judicial custody till March 20 in connection with alleged corruption in formulating and implementing the now-scrapped excise policy for 2021-22.
At present, Sisodia is not sharing the cell with other inmates and is lodged in ward number 9 of Tihar jail number 1 under the strict vigil of CCTV cameras, jail officials told the news agency ANI and added, “He will be sharing his cell with another person in near future. He also has some dreaded criminals as neighbors in the same ward."
Sisodia, who was arrested by CBI on February 26, had to undergo some medical tests before going to Tihar jail and his reports were “normal".
Upon reaching the jail, he was given a ‘Sparsh Kit’, consists of toothpaste, soap, toothbrush, and other daily use items.
When asked about Sisodia’s first night in Tihar jail, the official told ANI, “As per schedule, Sisodia was offered chapati, rice and aloo matar for dinner at around 6-7.30 pm."
As Sisodia is an under trial prisoner, he can wear his personal clothes. As per the prison rules, he was given some extra clothes from jail for the first night. His family is expected to meet him today and can bring his personal clothing and other items, the officials were quoted as saying.
Earlier in the day, the CBI questioned Sisodia’s personal assistant Devender Sharma in connection with the case. Sharma alias Rinku was summoned to the CBI headquarters where he was questioned by officials of the anti-corruption branch since morning, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also questioned Sisodia at the Tihar jail.
Sisodia, who was in-charge of the excise department, was not mentioned as an accused in the chargesheet filed in the case on November 25 last year. According to officials, the CBI had not named Sisodia in the chargesheet as the central probe agency kept the probe open against him and other suspects and accused.
The CBI alleged that wholesale dealers were given undue profit margins under the influence of a ‘south lobby’, a coterie of Hyderabad-based businessmen and politicians, in the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, a charge strongly refuted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The policy was later scrapped.
“It was further alleged that irregularities were committed, including modifications in the excise policy, extending undue favours to the licensees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, the extension of L-1 license without approval etc," a CBI spokesperson had said after the FIR was filed on August 17 last year. “It was also alleged that illegal gains on the count of these acts were diverted to concerned public servants by private parties by making false entries in their books of accounts," the official had said.
(with inputs from PTI)
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