As the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) intensified its probe into the excise policy case, the Aam Aadmi Party upped the ante on Saturday with Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia saying the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be a battle between Arvind Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and such actions will not deter Aam Aadmi Party.
Addressing a press conference a day after the CBI raid against him, Sisodia expressed apprehension that the agency or the Enforcement Directorate (ED) may arrest him in the next 3-4 days, while Chief Minister Kejriwal, who has been aggressively taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party in Modi's home state, announced on Twitter that he will be touring Gujarat with Sisodia from Monday.
CBI officials, meanwhile, said that at least three accused were questioned in the corruption case related to the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021 on Saturday and its first information report (FIR) has also been shared with the ED which will look into the allegations of money laundering.
The agency on Friday carried out searches at 31 places which included premises related to Sisodia as well as some bureaucrats and businessmen.
Sisodia is one of the 15 persons named by the CBI in the FIR.
"The 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be a battle between Arvind Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It will be AAP vs BJP," Sisodia told reporters, alleging that the raids were part of a ploy to stop AAP chief Kejriwal's rise.
Sisodia said the BJP was not concerned about corruption but was targeting Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, whose work on education and health was being talked about in the world, and that is why Satyendar Jain was arrested by the ED in May.
After Sisodia's allegations, the BJP hit back, alleging that Kejriwal was the 'kingpin' in the 'liquor scam'.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur accused the AAP of trying to divert the issue from the alleged scam by linking the CBI action to politics as its 'real face has been unmasked'.
He referred to the deputy chief minister as 'Money Shh', alleging that he 'makes money and maintains silence'.
At the press conference, Sisodia claimed that the raids are part of the 'script to stop Kejriwal who has emerged as a national alternative'.
"They are not concerned about any scam in the excise policy. They are scared of Kejriwal who has gained the love of people, especially after the party's victory in Punjab assembly elections," he said.
"They first arrested Satyendar Jain who was holding the charge of the health portfolio and I will also be arrested in the next couple of days," he claimed.
Delhi's health minister Jain was arrested in May by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges.
Sisodia also highlighted a front-page story in New York Times on Delhi's education model saying it made every Indian proud.
After the CBI raids, the AAP leaders have claimed that the Modi government was rattled by the report that 'praised' the Delhi government.
In his tweet, Kejriwal said he and Sisodia will visit Gujarat on Monday to 'guarantee education and health'.
'On Monday, Manish ji and I will go to Gujarat for two days -- to guarantee education and health. Like Delhi, Gujarat will also have good schools, good hospitals and Mohalla clinics. Everyone will get a good education and good and free treatment. People will be relieved. We will also interact with youth,' Kejriwal said in a Tweet.
This will be the fifth visit of the AAP national convener this month to Gujarat where Assembly elections are due in December this year.
Kejriwal had earlier promised many sops to Gujarat including free electricity up to 300 units in a month, free and quality education, a Rs 3,000 monthly unemployment allowance, and a job for every youth in Gujarat if his party was voted to power.
He had also promised Rs 1,000 to all women above the age of 18 years if they are willing to accept such a grant in the state.
AAP's Gujarat president Gopal Italia on Saturday said the raids and FIR against Sisodia were a fallout of a 'massive support' the party has generated, especially in poll-bound Gujarat.
CBI officials said three of the accused were called to CBI headquarters where their statements were recorded and they were confronted with some documents of financial transactions recovered during the searches.
The agency is also examining the documents seized during raids at 31 places including the residence of Sisodia, they said.
Under the CBI scanner are at least two payments in crores allegedly made to 'close associates' of Sisodia by Sameer Mahendru, the owner of Indospirits, who was one of the liquor traders actively involved in alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy.
The FIR alleged Sisodia's 'close associates' -- Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail Pvt. Limited in Gurugram, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey -- were 'actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees' to the accused public servants.
The search operations on Friday continued for nearly 15 hours with the CBI team leaving Sisodia's residence at around 11 pm.
The searches at the AAP leader's home, the residence of Indian Administrative Service officer and former excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, and 29 other places took place after the CBI registered an FIR for alleged corruption and bribery in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought out last November, officials said.
The policy was withdrawn in July this year after Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena called for a CBI probe.
The FIR on August 17 was based on a reference from the Lieutenant Governor's office routed through the Union home ministry.
The CBI has invoked the Indian Penal Code section related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in its FIR.
Speaking to reporters after the raid, Sisodia had said on Friday, "The CBI team reached in the morning and searched the whole house. My family and I extended full cooperation. They seized my computer and mobile phone. They also took away some files."
The damaging allegations in the FIR, based on 'source information', state that Sisodia and the accused public servants took decisions pertaining to the excise policy 2021-22 without the approval of competent authority with 'an intention to extend undue favours to the licencees post tender'.
'It was alleged that irregularities were committed including in modifications in Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licencees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, extension of L-1 licence without approval, etc.,' the CBI spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
