CBI files charge sheet against 7 in excise case

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed its first charge sheet in the Delhi excise policy case naming seven people, including Aam Aadmi Party communication strategist Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, a businessman who alleged lobbied for retail liquor licences for South India based companies, three other businessmen and two former officials of the excise department of Delhi.

Delhi’s deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who was named as accused in the CBI FIR on August 17, has not been named in the charge sheet and investigation against him and others and into the alleged cartelisation of liquor trade in Delhi is “continuing”, the agency said. Supplementary charge sheets could be filed in future depending of the evidence, it added.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal called the case “fake”, and said attempts were being made to frame Sisodia even though the central agency found nothing against the AAP leader.

“Manish’s name is not in the CBI chargesheet. The whole case is fake. Nothing was found in the raids. A total of 800 officers found nothing in the probe for four months. Manish offered hope of a good future to crores of poor children in the country through a revolution in education. I am sorry that a conspiracy was hatched to defame such a person by implicating him in a false case,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

The BJP, however, maintained that Sisodia was the “prime accused” in the case alleging that the seven people named in the charge sheet were his close associates. “CBI has filed the charge sheet. Seven people have been named in the preliminary stage. However, AAP is trying to escape the blame by saying Manish Sisodia’s name has been not been included. The fact is he still remains the prime accused and seven people named in the charge sheet are close aides of Shri Manish Sisodia. This is not the end and investigation will further dig to find more evidence to name more people in the charge sheet. Charge sheet also signifies that there was scam in Delhi excise policy and accused have been identified,” BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh said. CBI said it registered an FIR in the matter on August 17 to probe alleged irregularities in the excise policy.