By PTI
CHANDIGARH: The opposition Congress and SAD on Saturday demanded a probe into Punjab’s excise policy, alleging it was a “sellout” and the state was “defrauded” like in Delhi where its liquor policy is under the CBI scanner.
The demand in AAP-ruled Punjab came a day after CBI carried out searches at 31 places which included premises related to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia as well as some bureaucrats and businessmen over alleged irregularities in Delhi Excise policy 2021-22.
Congress Legislative Party leader in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa along with other party leaders said they will meet the governor seeking a probe into the excise policy in Punjab.
“Like Delhi, the liquor policy in Punjab is a sellout in which the AAP leaders in connivance with some senior officials have defrauded the state of thousands of crores of rupees, besides rendering hundreds of Punjabi traders jobless,” Bajwa alleged.
He also said that Congress will seek an NIA probe into “illegal sand mining going on along the border areas which even the Border Security Force had warned was a threat to national security”.
“Let the two ministers concerned heading the excise and the mining departments in Punjab be ready for the same fate as that of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in Delhi,” he said.
Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested on May 30 by the Enforcement Directorate under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is currently in judicial custody.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia too demanded a high-level probe into Punjab’s excise policy, alleging the “liquor mafia” which is being probed in Delhi by the CBI had taken over the liquor business in Punjab.
ALSO READ | ‘Sisodia accused number one but Kejriwal kingpin in liquor scam’: BJP hits out at AAP
“The AAP government of Punjab is looting the state exchequer to contest elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat,” Majithia alleged.
He claimed that the excise policy of Punjab, which encouraged “monopoly” of the liquor business, was “a copy of the Delhi excise policy”.
“Now, when corruption in Delhi’s liquor policy is being investigated, the same must be done in Punjab also,” the SAD leader demanded.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress said the entire state leadership will present itself before the vigilance bureau on Monday at 11 am as it was “fed up with the daily dose of allegations” against its leaders by the AAP government.
The Congress leaders also sounded a stern warning to officials involved in the investigation, asking them not to overstep their brief as eventually they have to serve in Punjab and the party will ensure that the law catches up with them as it has caught up with others even after retirement.
The leaders, including Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Bajwa, ridiculed the AAP’s attempt to “divert attention from its corrupt practices in Delhi and Punjab” by resorting to “vendetta and witch-hunt in Punjab”.
“While in Delhi they were crying persecution and victimhood, in Punjab they are resorting to a worse type of vendetta against their political opponents,” Warring alleged.
The CBI on Saturday recorded the statements of three of the accused as it began the questioning in the alleged corruption case related to the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy, officials said.
The agency is also examining the documents seized on Friday during raids at 31 places, including the residence of Delhi’ Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who is among the 15 named in the FIR, they said.
The three accused were called to the CBI headquarters where their statements were recorded and they were confronted with some documents of financial transactions recovered during the searches, the officials said, without elaborating.
The accused were questioned for nearly 12 hours after which they were allowed to go home, they said.
Some of them will be called again for questioning, they said.
The officials said once the process of examining the documents and electronic gadgets as well as the bank transactions is completed, summonses will be issued to other accused.
The CBI FIR, which was registered before a special court on Wednesday, has also been shared with the Enforcement Directorate, a financial probe agency, which will look into the allegations of money laundering.
ALSO READ | EXPLAINED | How the controversy over the Delhi Liquor Policy unfolded
The agency on Friday carried out searches at 31 places, which included premises related to Sisodia as well as some bureaucrats and businessmen.
The AAP condemned the raids with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming the agency has been “asked from above” to harass its leaders.
The BJP asked the Delhi government to come out clean on its excise policy.
Under the CBI probe are at least two payments in crores allegedly made to “close associates” of Sisodia by Sameer Mahendru, the owner of Indospirits, who was one of the liquor traders actively involved in alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy.
The FIR alleged Sisodia’s “close associates” – Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail Pvt.
Limited in Gurugram, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey – were “actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees” to the accused public servants.
The search operations on Friday continued for nearly 15 hours with the CBI team leaving Sisodia’s residence at around 11 pm.
The searches at the AAP leader’s home, the residence of IAS officer and former excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, and 29 other places took place after the CBI registered an FIR for alleged corruption and bribery in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought out last November, officials said.
The policy was withdrawn in July this year after Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena called for a CBI probe.
The FIR on August 17 was based on a reference from the Lieutenant Governor’s office routed through the Union Home Ministry.
The CBI has invoked the IPC section related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Public servants including Krishna, former Deputy Excise Commissioner Anand Tiwari and assistant excise commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar, nine businessmen and two companies are among those named in the FIR.
Speaking to reporters after the raid, Sisodia had said on Friday, “The CBI team reached in the morning and searched the whole house. My family and I extended them full cooperation. They seized my computer and mobile phone. They also took away some files.”
He alleged that the Centre was misusing the agency to stop the Arvind Kejriwal government from “doing good work” in Delhi.
The CBI, which registered an FIR in a special court here on Wednesday, began its raids from 8 am in seven states.
The search operation expanded to 31 locations in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Bengaluru which led to the recovery of “incriminating” documents, articles, digital records, etc, the officials had said.
The damaging allegations in the FIR, based on “source information”, state that Sisodia and the accused public servants took decisions pertaining to the excise policy 2021-22 without the approval of competent authority with “an intention to extend undue favours to the licencees post tender”.
“It was alleged that irregularities were committed including in modifications in Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licencees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, extension of L-1 licence without approval, etc,” the CBI’s spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
CHANDIGARH: The opposition Congress and SAD on Saturday demanded a probe into Punjab’s excise policy, alleging it was a “sellout” and the state was “defrauded” like in Delhi where its liquor policy is under the CBI scanner.
The demand in AAP-ruled Punjab came a day after CBI carried out searches at 31 places which included premises related to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia as well as some bureaucrats and businessmen over alleged irregularities in Delhi Excise policy 2021-22.
Congress Legislative Party leader in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa along with other party leaders said they will meet the governor seeking a probe into the excise policy in Punjab.
“Like Delhi, the liquor policy in Punjab is a sellout in which the AAP leaders in connivance with some senior officials have defrauded the state of thousands of crores of rupees, besides rendering hundreds of Punjabi traders jobless,” Bajwa alleged.
He also said that Congress will seek an NIA probe into “illegal sand mining going on along the border areas which even the Border Security Force had warned was a threat to national security”.
“Let the two ministers concerned heading the excise and the mining departments in Punjab be ready for the same fate as that of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in Delhi,” he said.
Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested on May 30 by the Enforcement Directorate under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is currently in judicial custody.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia too demanded a high-level probe into Punjab’s excise policy, alleging the “liquor mafia” which is being probed in Delhi by the CBI had taken over the liquor business in Punjab.
ALSO READ | ‘Sisodia accused number one but Kejriwal kingpin in liquor scam’: BJP hits out at AAP
“The AAP government of Punjab is looting the state exchequer to contest elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat,” Majithia alleged.
He claimed that the excise policy of Punjab, which encouraged “monopoly” of the liquor business, was “a copy of the Delhi excise policy”.
“Now, when corruption in Delhi’s liquor policy is being investigated, the same must be done in Punjab also,” the SAD leader demanded.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress said the entire state leadership will present itself before the vigilance bureau on Monday at 11 am as it was “fed up with the daily dose of allegations” against its leaders by the AAP government.
The Congress leaders also sounded a stern warning to officials involved in the investigation, asking them not to overstep their brief as eventually they have to serve in Punjab and the party will ensure that the law catches up with them as it has caught up with others even after retirement.
The leaders, including Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Bajwa, ridiculed the AAP’s attempt to “divert attention from its corrupt practices in Delhi and Punjab” by resorting to “vendetta and witch-hunt in Punjab”.
“While in Delhi they were crying persecution and victimhood, in Punjab they are resorting to a worse type of vendetta against their political opponents,” Warring alleged.
The CBI on Saturday recorded the statements of three of the accused as it began the questioning in the alleged corruption case related to the implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy, officials said.
The agency is also examining the documents seized on Friday during raids at 31 places, including the residence of Delhi’ Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who is among the 15 named in the FIR, they said.
The three accused were called to the CBI headquarters where their statements were recorded and they were confronted with some documents of financial transactions recovered during the searches, the officials said, without elaborating.
The accused were questioned for nearly 12 hours after which they were allowed to go home, they said.
Some of them will be called again for questioning, they said.
The officials said once the process of examining the documents and electronic gadgets as well as the bank transactions is completed, summonses will be issued to other accused.
The CBI FIR, which was registered before a special court on Wednesday, has also been shared with the Enforcement Directorate, a financial probe agency, which will look into the allegations of money laundering.
ALSO READ | EXPLAINED | How the controversy over the Delhi Liquor Policy unfolded
The agency on Friday carried out searches at 31 places, which included premises related to Sisodia as well as some bureaucrats and businessmen.
The AAP condemned the raids with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claiming the agency has been “asked from above” to harass its leaders.
The BJP asked the Delhi government to come out clean on its excise policy.
Under the CBI probe are at least two payments in crores allegedly made to “close associates” of Sisodia by Sameer Mahendru, the owner of Indospirits, who was one of the liquor traders actively involved in alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy.
The FIR alleged Sisodia’s “close associates” – Amit Arora, director of Buddy Retail Pvt.
Limited in Gurugram, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey – were “actively involved in managing and diverting the undue pecuniary advantage collected from liquor licensees” to the accused public servants.
The search operations on Friday continued for nearly 15 hours with the CBI team leaving Sisodia’s residence at around 11 pm.
The searches at the AAP leader’s home, the residence of IAS officer and former excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna, and 29 other places took place after the CBI registered an FIR for alleged corruption and bribery in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy brought out last November, officials said.
The policy was withdrawn in July this year after Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena called for a CBI probe.
The FIR on August 17 was based on a reference from the Lieutenant Governor’s office routed through the Union Home Ministry.
The CBI has invoked the IPC section related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Public servants including Krishna, former Deputy Excise Commissioner Anand Tiwari and assistant excise commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar, nine businessmen and two companies are among those named in the FIR.
Speaking to reporters after the raid, Sisodia had said on Friday, “The CBI team reached in the morning and searched the whole house. My family and I extended them full cooperation. They seized my computer and mobile phone. They also took away some files.”
He alleged that the Centre was misusing the agency to stop the Arvind Kejriwal government from “doing good work” in Delhi.
The CBI, which registered an FIR in a special court here on Wednesday, began its raids from 8 am in seven states.
The search operation expanded to 31 locations in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Bengaluru which led to the recovery of “incriminating” documents, articles, digital records, etc, the officials had said.
The damaging allegations in the FIR, based on “source information”, state that Sisodia and the accused public servants took decisions pertaining to the excise policy 2021-22 without the approval of competent authority with “an intention to extend undue favours to the licencees post tender”.
“It was alleged that irregularities were committed including in modifications in Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licencees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, extension of L-1 licence without approval, etc,” the CBI’s spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
