Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, March 4: A Delhi court on Saturday extended the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia by two more days in the Delhi excise policy case.
Special CBI judge MK Nagpal, however, directed the investigating agency not to ask the same questions to Sisodia.
“Please don’t ask same questions again and again. If you have something new ask him,” the Court said.
This came about after Sisodia complained to the court that the CBI was harassing him mentally by repeatedly asking the same questions.
“They are not using third degree. But sitting for eight to nine hours and answering same questions again and again, that too, is mental harassment,” Sisodia said.
The Court then instructed the CBI officers to routinely perform Sisodia’s medical examinations and to avoid asking him the same questions over and over again.
Sisodia had also made a bail request in front of the Rouse Avenue Court on Friday.
The court will hear the bail plea on March 10.
As Sisodia was detained on February 26 in connection with the 2021 Excise policy, a Delhi court ordered him to be held in CBI custody until today on February 27.
However, the Supreme Court had declined to offer him relief, stating that Sisodia had additional options.
After a nearly eight-hour-long interrogation, Sisodia was detained by the CBI.
According to allegations made by the CBI, Sisodia and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members gave liquor permits to certain dealers in exchange for bribery. It has been claimed that the policy was altered in a way that favoured some merchants, and bribes were given in return.
After Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena suggested a CBI investigation based on a report by the Delhi Chief Secretary, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI lodged cases in relation to the alleged scam. According to the findings, the Deputy Chief Minister broke the law by notifying a policy that had major financial repercussions.
Sisodia was not charged by the CBI, but the investigation against him and several other people was still ongoing.
The AAP has refuted the accusations and steadfastly defended Sisodia’s innocence.
According to Sisodia, the LG approved the policy and the adjustments made to it, and the CBI is now pursuing the policy choices of an elected administration.
As Sisodia contested his arrest, the case also went before the Supreme Court. The Delhi High Court was instructed to hear his case first by the supreme court, which declined to accept his argument.
