Delhi LG VK Saxena orders transfer of 12 IAS officers after Manish Sisodia raid; list

Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena on Friday transferred 12 IAS officers of the national capital hours after the CBI raided 22 locations -- including the houses of Manish Sisodia and an IAS officer -- in connection with the Delhi excise policy probe. 

Saxena issued an official order notifying the transfer/posting/assignment of the officers without assigning any reason. Here's the list of officers transferred. Jitendra Narain (AGMUT: 1990), Anil Kumar Singh (AGMUT: 1995), Vivek Pandey (AGMUT: 2003), Shurbir Singh (AGMUT: 2004), Garima Gupta (AGMUT: 2004), Ashish Madhaorao More (AGMUT: 2005), Udit Prakash Rai (AGMUT: 2007), Vijendra Singh Rawat (AGMUT: 2007), Krishan Kumar (AGMUT: 2010), Kalyan Sahay Meena (AGMUT: 2010), Sonal Swaroop (AGMUT: 2012) and Hemant Kumar (AGMUT: 2013).

Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy. 

The Delhi excise policy was rolled out in November 2021 with an intention of rooting out the liquor mafia, increasing revenue and enhancing the user experience. Under the policy, the government had exited the business of selling liquor and the private players were licensed to sell alcoholic beverages. The city had been divided into 32 zones wherein every ward would have 2-3 liquor vends. The policy that led to a 27 percent increase in the revenue, however, was scrapped after Saxena's recommendation of the CBI probe. 

Manish Sisodia said on Friday that he had nothing to hide as he was not involved in any corruption. He claimed the Centre was coming after the Delhi government to stop it from bringing development to the national capital. 

He said the CBI sleuths seized his personal mobile phone, computer and some documents.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal pointed out that the raid coincided with the publication of an article in The New York Times praising the AAP government's work in the field of education. He said Sisodia was the world's best education minister and nothing objectionable would emerge from the CBI probe.

With inputs from IANS