Sisodia appears before CBI for questioning in excise policy scam

New Delhi: The CBI on Sunday began its second round of questioning of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam case.

Sisodia arrived at the heavily-barricaded CBI office after paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat, officials said.  Sisodia, accused number one in the CBI FIR, was earlier questioned on October 17, a month before the agency filed its charge sheet on November 25 last year.

The CBI had not named Sisodia in charge sheet as the central probe agency kept the probe open against him and other suspects and accused, they said.

The CBI will question Sisodia on various aspects of the excise policy, his alleged links with liquor traders, and politicians and claims made by witnesses in their statements.

Armed with confessional statements of Sisodia's "close associate" Dinesh Arora, and information gleaned from questioning of alleged members of 'South Lobby', a coterie of politicians and liquor businessmen who allegedly swung the policy in their favour, the CBI has prepared an elaborate questionnaire for him, the officials said.

It is alleged that the Delhi government's policy to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.