Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia took a swipe at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after his name did not figure in the initial chargesheet filed by the central agency in court today over the ongoing inquiry into the Delhi liquor policy case.
He said that even after "800 officers raided 500 places", they didn't manage to level any allegations against him.
Holding the BJP responsible for what he claimed as false charges against him, Mr Sisodia said: "Shame on the BJP. All their conspiracies will fail."
Earlier today, an ED chargesheet filed at the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi named only Sameer Mahendru as an accused in the alleged liquor scam. The central agency said more names will be added later on since investigation is still ongoing, though there was no mention of the Delhi Deputy CM.
Reacting to it, Mr Sisodia tweeted: "It is a matter of great pride for me that even after all their conspiracies and false FIRs, they are not able to make any allegations against me. My name is not there in the charge sheet prepared by a team of 800 officers after raiding 500 places."
The tweet further said: "The charge sheet of CBI and ED proved that there was no liquor scam."
Mr Sisodia demanded the immediate removal of the Chief Secretary and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi for their alleged connivance with the BJP in trying to falsely implicate him.
"They got the Chief Secretary to draft a false report, following which, the LG [Lieutenant Governor] forwarded a false FIR. Now that neither CBI nor ED have found anything against me, the LG should be removed and the Chief Secretary should be suspended," Mr Sisodia said.
Terming the absence of his name on the ED chargesheet as "victory of truth", Mr Sidodia further said: "All the big leaders of the BJP have been shouting at press conferences and on TV channels for four months, saying that Manish Sisodia had done a scam for Rs 10,000 crores. But nothing was found against me."
Earlier today, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal stood by his party colleague. In a tweet, the Delhi CM questioned that since the Delhi Deputy CM's name does not even figure on the ED chargesheet, shouldn't Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologise to the country for implicating Mr Sisodia?
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED are both investigating whether the Delhi government's excise policy, which has now been scrapped, was framed to provide undue and illegal favours to liquor manufacturers and distributors at the cost of the government exchequer.