Sisodia says CBI officer committed suicide due to pressure to frame him; agency refutes charge

New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed on Monday that a CBI officer committed suicide as he was pressured to frame him in a false excise case, but the federal agency dismissed the allegation.

In a statement, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said its officer, Jitendra Kumar, was in "no way connected" with the probe related to the excise police case. It also made it clear that no clean chit has been given to any of the accused in the matter.

However, Sisodia maintained that Kumar was the law officer dealing with the case and demanded an "independent judicial inquiry" into his death.

The deputy chief minister also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he only thinks of destabilising non-BJP governments by poaching MLAs.

The BJP meanwhile released a "sting operation" video purportedly showing the father of a liquor scam accused claiming to have paid "commissions" to acquire liquor licences in Delhi and demanded the sacking of Sisodia.

स्टिंग ऑपरेशन में सामने आया AAP के शराब घोटाले का काला सच। pic.twitter.com/Kc0vYfu9zr

— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) September 5, 2022

"The modus operandi as revealed in the video is that 80 per cent of the profit will go to (Chief Minister Arvind) Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and their friends. First, you give us our 80-per cent commission and then sell the 20 per cent however you can, we do not care. This has been the policy of Kejriwal," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters here.

At a press conference with Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta and Lok Sabha member Manoj Tiwari, Patra released the "sting operation" video featuring Kulvinder Marwah, the father of Sunny Marwah, the accused number 13 in the liquor scam case.

"It is an open-and-shut case because Marwahji himself is admitting all these in this video," he said.

The BJP leader said more such videos will come out in the future and appealed to all liquor contractors to come forward and expose the "corruption" without fear.

"We asked Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia five questions regarding the new excise policy. However, the questions remain unanswered and therefore, we have come here to expose them through a sting operation," Patra added.

Sisodia called the "sting operation" a "joke".

"The CBI has given me a clean chit as it did not get anything and that is why the BJP is coming up with these tactics. This is not a sting operation, this is just a joke," he said.

The CBI had raided Sisodia's residence here last month after it registered an FIR to probe alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought out in November last year.

At a press conference on Monday, Sisodia said, "A CBI officer was pressured to frame me in a false excise case. He could not take the mental pressure and died by suicide two days ago. This is really unfortunate, I am deeply hurt." "I want to ask the prime minister why officers are being pressured so much that they are forced to take such extreme steps? Arrest me if you want but do not destroy the families of your officers," he added.

He also asked Modi if "Operation Lotus" is the only work that the Centre has.

The CBI refuted Sisodia's claims on Kumar's death as "mischievous and misleading", saying his statements were "an attempt to divert attention from the ongoing investigation in the Delhi Excise Policy case".

"The CBI strongly refutes this mischievous and misleading statement by Sisodia. It is clarified that the gentleman officer, Late Jitendra Kumar, was in no way connected with the investigation of this case.

"He was Deputy Legal Advisor in-charge of prosecution, in which capacity he was supervising prosecutors who are conducting the trial of already charge-sheeted cases in Delhi," the agency said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lashed out at the prime minister, accusing him of exerting "pressure" on CBI officials to arrest Sisodia "anyhow".

"As much pressure was built on Jitendra Kumar, who was the CBI's legal advisor in the case against Sisodia, for making a case for the issuance of an arrest warrant against the deputy chief minister that he could not bear it and died by suicide two days ago," AAP leader Atishi said.

She claimed that none of the legal advisors of the CBI is ready to recommend the issuance of an arrest warrant against Sisodia because they have to mention a valid ground for it in their legal opinion and that the agency failed to find anything incriminating against the deputy chief minister either from his residence or his wife's bank locker.

Atishi condoled the alleged suicide of Kumar and assured his family members that the AAP stands by them.

"There cannot be anything more sad in this country than that an officer had to die by suicide because of the prime minister's conspiracy," she alleged and demanded that Modi spell out the names of the CBI officials on whom he is "exerting pressure" to arrest Sisodia "anyhow".

"Our prime minister is not solving the country's problems.... Our prime minister is engaged in toppling governments under Operation Lotus by misusing central agencies," Atishi charged.

She also demanded that the prime minister tell the nation what has the CBI found against Sisodia from his residence and his wife's bank locker.

"After checking the bank locker of his wife, they found jewelleries worth Rs 50-60,000, which she had got in her marriage," Atishi said.