Sisodia not named, proves case fake: CM; BJP hits out

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the absence of his deputy Manish Sisodia’s name from the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) charge sheet in the excise policy case proves the case was fake, even as leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought to play down this claim, arguing that more people could be named in subsequent charge sheets in the case.

“The CBI’S charge sheet does not name Manish. The whole case was fraudulent — 800 officers probed it for four months and could not find anything against him,” said Kejriwal in a tweet

“Manish Sisodia brought an education revolution to India, which gave crores of poor children of the country a hope of a bright future. It is extremely saddening that a conspiracy was hatched to malign such a leader by implicating him in a false case,” he added.

Sisodia, meanwhile, demanded Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena’s resignation and called for chief secretary Naresh Kumar to be sacked.

“The Delhi LG and chief secretary misused their position to benefit the BJP; LG should resign and CS must be sacked immediately,” Manish Sisodia said on Friday.

To be sure, several charge sheets can be filed over the course of the investigation of any case. It is mandatory to file a charge sheet within 60 days of a person being arrested. In this case, three of the seven people named were already arrested. The earliest of these arrests, of Vijay Nair, was on September 27 this year. Two others have been arrested in the case, but are not named in the charge sheet.

Neither the LG nor the chief responded to queries.

The BJP’S West Delhi MP, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, said the investigation was still in the preliminary stages.

“The investigation will find more evidence and name more in the charge sheet,” he said.