DNA Special: How heavy discounts on liquor in Delhi landed Manish Sisodia in trouble with CBI

The excise policy rolled out in Delhi in 2021 brought heavy discounts and one-plus-one deals on top alcohol brands in the national capital, but has now landed Deputy Chief Minister and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia on the wrong side of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Today, the CBI raided 21 locations in seven states to find answers to all questions that arose about the Delhi liquor excise policy. The locations raided by CBI included the premises of Manish Sisodia, which the central agency entered at 8 am on Friday. As per officials, many important documents have been recovered from Sisodia’s home after the raids.

You must be thinking about why Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia’s house was raided in relation to the Delhi liquor policy case. This is because Sisodia is also the Excise Minister of Delhi, making him directly linked with the case.

Last month, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended a CBI probe against Manish Sisodia in a case related to Delhi's liquor policy, after which the CBI filed a case against 16 people, including Sisodia, who has now been named as the prime accused in the case.

Every leader of the Aam Aadmi Party is confident that there is no disturbance in the new liquor policy. The CBI won't get anything in the raids, they have claimed. At the moment, the new liquor policy has become a noose around Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's neck.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena had sought a report from the Chief Secretary of Delhi on the new liquor policy. The Delhi Chief Secretary had submitted this report to the Lieutenant Governor. The report pointed out violations of rules in formulating the new liquor policy and loopholes in the tender process. Apart from this, some financial irregularities were also claimed.

The first allegation is that on the instructions of Excise Minister Manish Sisodia, the Excise Department refunded a security deposit of Rs 30 crore to the L-1 bidder of the airport zone, even though the bidder could not even get the required NOC from the airport authorities. This was clearly in violation of Rule 48(11)(b) of the Delhi Excise Rules 2010.

The second allegation is that the Excise Department issued an order on November 8, 2021, removing the import pass fees of Rs 50 on foreign liquor and beer. This illegally benefited the licensees and the government suffered a loss of revenue, as per the report.

The third allegation is that the Delhi government waived the license fee of Rs 144 crore 36 lakh in the name of the Covid-19 pandemic to benefit the liquor sellers, while there was no provision in the tender documents to give exemption or compensation in the license fee to liquor vendors on any such basis.

The fourth major allegation is that the Delhi government did not take any action against the licensees who were openly promoting the sale of liquor through social media, banners, and hoardings. Such promotion of liquor is a violation of Rule Numbers 26 and 27 of the Delhi Excise Rules 2010.

Now, the CBI in its FIR has named Manish Sisodia as the prime accused in the Delhi liquor excise policy case. According to the FIR, a case has been registered against 15 accused including former Excise Department Commissioner Arwa Gopi Krishna. The CBI has said that the owners and big officials of many private companies were also involved in the irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the new liquor policy.

The FIR includes Vijay Nair, former CEO of event management company Only Much Louder Company; Manoj Rai, a former employee of Pernod Ricard Company; Amandeep Dhal, owner of Brindco Spirits and Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indo Spirits.

According to the FIR, the investigation revealed that Sameer Mahendru, owner of Indo Spirits, deposited Rs 1 crore in the UCO bank account of Radha Industries, a company owned by Dinesh Arora, a close aide of Manish Sisodia. That is, the money was delivered to government officials through Dinesh Arora.

The CBI raids and BJP’s allegations both have a similar claim - the rules were made with the aim of benefiting big liquor traders from the new liquor policy, for which cheap alcohol was sold to the residents of the national capital. Meanwhile, AAP remains firm on its stance of not indulging in any foul play.

READ | Amid BJP vs AAP over excise policy, New York Times breaks silence on Manish Sisodia ‘paid news’ reports