Central agencies lying to courts: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on CBI summons

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday alleged that he knew he would be next in line to be summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) since the day he spoke against corruption in Delhi assembly.

Kejriwal was addressing a press conference in the national capital a day after he was summoned by the CBI on Sunday for questioning in the Delhi excise police case.

While talking to mediapersons, he said, "Central agencies are lying to courts against us in the liquor policy probe. Arrested people are being tortured, pressure is being created on them to nail us."

He added, "The CBI has falsely accused Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case. People were beaten to obtain false statements. The agencies are torturing people for evidence. This was a great policy to eradicate corruption."

The CBI has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on April 16.

AAP leaders said that Kejriwal will appear before CBI for questioning.

Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, a key aide of Kejriwal, is in jail over alleged irregularities in the excise policy case.

Sisodia was arrested by ED and CBI in the ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy in Delhi.

The CBI arrested Sisodia on February 26, 2023. Later on March 9, the ED arrested him, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail.

The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval.

The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, the probe agencies said.