Guwahati: Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister of Delhi, had his locker checked by CBI agents on Tuesday in Ghaziabad. Outside the bank, confusion reigned as television men jostled for position and onlookers flocked to observe what was going on.
About five members of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s team travelled to the PNB branch in Ghaziabad’s Sector 4 Vasundhara, which is located outside of the capital, to conduct the search, according to officials, as quoted by PTI.
Sisodia and his wife were at the bank.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader is among the 15 people and entities named in an FIR registered by the agency in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi government’s Excise Policy 2021-22, the report stated.
The CBI is welcome, Sisodia had said in a tweet on Monday.
“Tomorrow, the CBI is coming to check our bank locker. They did not find anything during a 14-hour-long raid at my residence on August 19. They won’t find anything in the locker too. The CBI is welcome. My family and I will extend full cooperation in the probe,” the deputy chief minister said in his tweet in Hindi.
The federal investigation agency conducted 31 raids on August 19, including one at Sisodia’s home.
In the lead-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has emerged as a challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Sisodia claims he has been implicated in a fabricated case in order to halt his march.
The AAP leader said the BJP-led Centre is behaving like a serial killer to overthrow state governments during a special session of the Delhi Assembly on Friday. He also called the CBI FIR against him “false” and based on “mere sources.”