AAP's Saurabh Bhardwaj claims CBI tortured Manish Sisodia, pressured him to sign false charges

In a recent development, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj on Sunday (March 5) claimed that the CBI was "torturing" senior party leader Manish Sisodia and pressuring him to sign papers containing false charges.

On February 26, the federal probe agency arrested Sisodia for allegedly not cooperating in the investigation into the Delhi excise policy case and being evasive on questions from investigators.

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A special CBI court on Saturday extended the custody of Sisodia till March 6. On February 28, Sisodia resigned from the Arvind Kejriwal-led cabinet.

According to officials, the agency wants to utilise Sisodia's custody to locate the crucial missing file containing legal opinions on the expert committee recommendations on the excise policy, which remains untraceable even now.

Speaking to reporters, Bhardwaj said, "Manish Sisodia is being tortured by the CBI and being pressured to sign the documents containing false charges framed against him. CBI has no evidence against Sisodia. They never mentioned any evidence is missing. They raided his residence but found nothing."

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Sisodia, who was produced before the court on Saturday on the expiry of his five-day CBI custody, claimed that he was "sitting for eight to nine hours and answering the same questions again and again" and termed it "mental harassment".

To this, the judge, who had in the last hearing directed the CBI not to use the third degree on the accused, told the probe agency not to ask the "same questions again and again". "If you have something new, ask him," the judge said.