'India transitioned from democracy to autocracy': 9 Oppn leaders write to PM Modi on Manish Sisodia's arrest

As many as nine Opposition leaders including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the arrest of former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia in the excise policy case.

In the letter to PM Modi, the Opposition leaders stated that the action appears to suggest that "we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy".

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The nine opposition leaders include, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Telangana CM KCR, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president Farooq Abdullah.

The case pertains to the allegations that the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22 to grant licences to liquor traders favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly denied by the AAP.

Meanwhile, the CBI is questioning Manish Sisodia in the ongoing Delhi liquor policy case in which the former Delhi education minister was arrested on February 26. A special CBI court on Saturday extended the custody of Sisodia till March 6.

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The CBI has confronted Manish Sisodia with two critical witnesses in the case. The agency will confront the AAP leader with two more important witnesses whose identity has not been disclosed yet. The two witnesses CBI has conducted Sisodia's questioning face to face are his former secretary C Arvind and then Excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna.

It is reportedly said that the CBI is trying to find the crucial missing file containing legal opinions on the expert committee recommendations on the Excise policy, which remains untraceable even now.

Sisodia, who was in charge of the excise department, has not been named as accused in the charge sheet filed in the case. The agency said that the AAP MLA was not named in the charge sheet as it kept the probe open against him and other suspects and accused.