ACB questioning based on clarification note on file: Sisodia

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said his questioning by the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) for three hours was based solely on a clarification note that he had signed, adding that the whole affair was aimed to stop the public welfare works being carried out by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

“How do I become a criminal just for writing a clarification note (on an official file)? When I asked them, they (ACB) had no answer ,” Sisodia said. Sisodia appeared before the ACB on Friday regarding a case of alleged illegal recruitments in the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), in which its chief Swati Maliwal has been booked.

He said he had clarified in the said note that as per the Delhi Commission for Women Act, 1994, the administrative and financial powers in the panel lie with the commission’s member-secretary. 

“This is a note that just clarifies the law,” he said. 

Sisodia said the questioning showcases the attempts to stop the Delhi government’s work for public welfare. “The amount of work the Delhi government has done in the last one-and-a-half years – and that too at such a fast pace –no other government has done in the last 20 years,” the Deputy Chief Minister added.

Earlier in the day, Sisodia said some people were not able to digest the Delhi government’s work. “We are doing our work and some people are not able to digest it. This is why the CBI and ACB have been told to go after us,” he said.

Just after Sisodia’s visit to the ACB office, DCW chief Swati Maliwal claimed that the ACB summons to Sisodia “reeks of political vendetta”.

“ACB summoning @msisodia (Manish Sisodia) reeks of political vendetta. He has no role in DCW appointments. DCW was always autonomous,” she tweeted. 

Maliwal, an accused in the alleged illegal recruitments case, was questioned twice by the ACB before she was booked in the case.