The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday searched 31 locations, including the premises of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, in connection with a case alleging irregularities in the State governmentâs now-withdrawn excise policy. The raids were conducted in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Bengaluru. Mr. Sisodia is among the 15 accused named in the FIR. The CBI, which registered the case on a reference from the Union Home Ministry, has alleged that there were irregularities while modifying the Excise Policy; undue favours were extended to licence holders; licence fee was waived/reduced; and L-1 licence was extended without the competent authorityâs approval. The illegal gains were diverted to the public servants concerned by private parties and false entries made in their books of accounts, the CBI alleged. The Excise Department had decided to refund the earnest money deposit of about â¹30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules, it said. Although there was no enabling provision, it allowed waiver on tendered licence fee due to the COVID-19 pandemic from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, allegedly causing a loss of â¹144.36 crore to the exchequer, the FIR said. The FIR names then Excise Commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari, and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar, besides 10 liquor licence holders and their associates. The agency alleged that Mr. Sisodiaâs close associates â Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey of Buddy Retail â were actively involved in managing and diverting undue pecuniary benefits, collected from the licence holders, to public servants. The CBI searches triggered a war of words. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said it was âshamefulâ that the Centre had sent the agency after Mr. Sisodia just hours after The New York Times had published his photograph on its front page, appreciating Delhiâs education model. âWe welcome the CBI with open arms...there have been raids and investigations against us earlier too, nothing came out of them. Weâll come out clear this time, too,â he said. Targeting the AAP, which has been striving to make inroads in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, Union Minister Anurag Thakur told the media that the âreal faceâ of the party, Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Sisodia, had come in front of the public today. â...this is not the first case of corruption by the AAP. There has been huge corruption in the liquor stores in Delhi,â he said. Confirming that a CBI team had reached his residence, Mr. Sisodia tweeted in the morning saying that he was disappointed that those doing good work were being harassed. Stating that earlier, the former Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested and now he [Manish Sisodia] was being targeted, Mr. Sisodia alleged the action was being taken to stop the excellent work being done in the areas of education and health in Delhi. Amid the ongoing political tussle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Mr. Sisodiaâs role being under the lens over the State Governmentâs excise policy, the CBI raids on his premises and that of his associates becomes an important story. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editorâs Pick and more. Click here The Hinduâs Editorials Control, alter: On BJP top brass rejig Reining in overreach: On arrests and summons under GST law The Hinduâs Daily Quiz Where are the ashes of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose laid to rest? Taihoku Hall, Taipei Sasagawa Temple, Tokyo Renkoji Temple, Tokyo Janakinath Bhawan, Cuttack To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here [logo] Editor's Pick 20 AUGUST 2022 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( CBI raids AAPâs top ministerâs home The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday [searched 31 locations]( including the premises of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, in connection with a case alleging irregularities in the State governmentâs now-withdrawn excise policy. The raids were conducted in Delhi, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Bengaluru. Mr. Sisodia is among the 15 accused named in the FIR. The CBI, which registered the case on a reference from the Union Home Ministry, has alleged that there were irregularities while modifying the Excise Policy; undue favours were extended to licence holders; licence fee was waived/reduced; and L-1 licence was extended without the competent authorityâs approval. The illegal gains were diverted to the public servants concerned by private parties and false entries made in their books of accounts, the CBI alleged. The Excise Department had decided to refund the earnest money deposit of about â¹30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules, it said. Although there was no enabling provision, it allowed waiver on tendered licence fee due to the COVID-19 pandemic from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, allegedly causing a loss of â¹144.36 crore to the exchequer, the FIR said. The FIR names then Excise Commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwari, and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar, besides 10 liquor licence holders and their associates. The agency alleged that Mr. Sisodiaâs close associates â Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey of Buddy Retail â were actively involved in managing and diverting undue pecuniary benefits, collected from the licence holders, to public servants.  The CBI searches triggered a war of words. [Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said it was âshamefulâ]( the Centre had sent the agency after Mr. Sisodia just hours after The New York Times had published his photograph on its front page, appreciating Delhiâs education model. âWe welcome the CBI with open arms...there have been raids and investigations against us earlier too, nothing came out of them. Weâll come out clear this time, too,â he said. Targeting the AAP, which has been striving to make inroads in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, Union Minister Anurag Thakur told the media that the âreal faceâ of the party, Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Sisodia, had come in front of the public today. â...this is not the first case of corruption by the AAP. There has been huge corruption in the liquor stores in Delhi,â he said. Confirming that a CBI team had reached his residence, Mr. Sisodia tweeted in the morning saying that he was disappointed that those doing good work were being harassed. Stating that earlier, the former Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain was arrested and now he [Manish Sisodia] was being targeted, Mr. Sisodia alleged the action was being taken to stop the excellent work being done in the areas of education and health in Delhi. Amid the ongoing political tussle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Mr. Sisodiaâs role being under the lens over the State Governmentâs excise policy, the CBI raids on his premises and that of his associates becomes an important story. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editorâs Pick and more.  [Click here]( The Hinduâs Editorials [Arrow][Control, alter: On BJP top brass rejig](
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