Delhi liquor scam: Delhi court remands Sisodia in five-day CBI custody

A special CBI court on Monday remanded Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in five-day custody of the central probe agency till March 4, a day after his arrest in the excise scam case.

Special judge M K Nagpal allowed the CBI's plea for the custodial interrogation of Sisodia.

Earlier in the day, the court had reserved its order on the plea after hearing arguments from the CBI and Sisodia's counsel.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had produced Sisodia in Rouse Avenue Court, demanding a 5-day remand. While seeking 5-day custody, CBI said, "conspiracy was hatched in a very planned and secret manner", adding that "custody is required for effective interrogation in the excise case".

Sisodia's counsel Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan opposed the remand application, said: "If someone is not willing to say something, that can't be a ground for arrest." His counsel has stated there is no clear evidence against him.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on Sunday night after the central agency grilled him for over eight hours in relation to the Delhi excise policy scam.

Sisodia's arrest, one of the high-profile actions against an opposition leader, comes after the arrest of Satyendar Jain, Delhi's then Health Minister, in June last year.

Both ministers have led what the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) describes as "the successful transformation of Delhi's education and health services, contributing to the party's popularity and continued electoral success."

The AAP, helmed by CM Arvind Kejriwal, has been staging protests and slamming the BJP-led Centre all throughout Monday.

Party leaders and workers leaders held protests in Delhi, Bhopal, Bengaluru and Chandigarh against the arrest of Sisodia, observing 'black day' and alleging that 80 per cent of its leaders have been arrested by the police as part of BJP's "agenda".

An AAP functionary said on Monday that all MLAs have been asked to gather 200 people from their respective constituencies for the protests.