The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday came out with all guns blazing against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party over the liquor case days after a court dismissed a bail plea of incarcerated former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, claiming that the AAP leader is the “mastermind” of the alleged scam.
“Why did the court refuse to give relief to Manish Sisodia, accused in the liquor scam? Manish Sisodia and company have received a bribe of ₹100 crore and this has been verified through the court,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla at a press conference in New Delhi.
“The court said that while reviewing the evidence presented, it can be said that Manish Sisodia is not honest but the mastermind of this corruption policy,” Poonawalla added.
On Friday, a Delhi court, while dismissing the bail plea of Sisodia in the excise policy case lodged by the CBI, said prima facie the AAP leader is the architect of the criminal conspiracy in the matter.
Special judge MK Nagpal said his release may adversely impact the ongoing investigation and “seriously hamper” its progress.
“Thus, it is clear from the above discussion that the applicant had played the most important and vital role in the criminal conspiracy and he had been deeply involved in the formulation as well as the implementation of the said policy to ensure the achievement of objectives of the said conspiracy… Thus, as per allegations made by the prosecution and the evidence collected in support thereof so far, the applicant can prima facie be held to be the architect of the said criminal conspiracy,” the judge said.
The BJP spokesperson claimed that it was already decided what decisions each unit of the government, the GoM and the cabinet were going to take. “This means that this whole scam was activated after discussing with the highest person in the government beforehand. Because the decision taken by the GoM and the cabinet cannot happen without the approval of the chief minister,” Poonawalla said in a direct attack on Kejriwal.
Sisodia had earlier sought bail saying he was neither a flight risk nor the CBI found anything incriminating against him in its probe into the alleged irregularities relating to the excise policy.
The BJP’s fresh attack comes a day after Kejriwal stepped up the attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his degree issue and further increased the “suspicion” over claims about his academic qualification.
The AAP chief’s remarks came a day after the Gujarat high court quashed a seven-year-old order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) which had asked the Gujarat University to provide information on Modi’s degree to him.
The BJP hit back at Kejriwal and said his remarks indicate that he is either on the verge of losing sanity or trying to create a ground for the future in view of the probe agencies gradually unearthing “proof” of corruption under his government.
