New Delhi: CBI included Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s name as A-1 in the FIR on the liquor police violations on Friday. Manish Sisodia is the No.1 accused in the FIR, the then Excise Commissioner A Gopi Krishna, Deputy Commissioner Anand Tiwar and Assistant Commissioner Pankaj Bhatnagar are the next accused persons. The CBI conducted raids on Friday morning at the residence of Sisodia.

The CBI named 15 persons in the FIR and No. 16 is unknown officers and others. The offences listed in the 11 page document are corruption, criminal conspiracy and falsification of accounts. Sisodia, Excise Minister, has strongly denied any wrongdoing. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal (AAP) has also firmly backed Manish Sisodia.

The CBI alleges that liquor companies and middlemen were actively involved in irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy. CBI claims that close associates of Sisodia, Amit Arora, Dinesh Arora and Arjun Pandey collected commission from liquor licenses and delivered them to the accused public servants.

A liquor trader paid ₹ 1 crore to a company managed by Dinesh Arora. The same trader, Sameer Mahendru of Indospirits, gave ₹ 2-4 crores to Arjun Pandey and another associate, CBI alleged in FIR. CBI states that Sisodia introduced the new policy on who would be allowed to sell alcohol in Delhi without the permission of the Lieutenant Governor, said CBI. The new policy was introduced in November and withdrawn on July 30, after an investigation was announced.

The FIR is based on a reference from Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, who had recommended a CBI investigation into the liquor policy.