Sisodia's name not in CBI's charge sheet, whole case is fake, says Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called the excise policy scam case "fake" on Friday and alleged that attempts were made to frame his deputy Manish Sisodia in it, whereas the CBI found nothing against him in its probe.

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"Manish's name is not in the CBI charge sheet. The whole case is fake. Nothing was found in the raids. A total of 800 officers found nothing in the probe for four months. Manish offered hope of a good future to crores of poor children in the country through a revolution in education. I am sorry that a conspiracy was hatched to defame such a person by implicating him in a false case," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its first charge sheet in the excise policy scam case against seven accused, including two businessmen, on Friday.

Besides the two arrested businessmen, the head of a television news channel, a Hyderabad-based liquor trader, a Delhi-based liquor distributor and two excise department officials have been named in the charge sheet, officials said.

Sisodia, who was named in the CBI FIR, does not figure in the charge sheet, which was filed within 60 days of the federal agency taking over the investigation.

The accused have been charged under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the provisions dealing with the offence of bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the officials said.