The CBI on Monday described Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s claim that an officer of the investigating agency had committed suicide after being pressured to frame an AAP leader in a false case as a “malicious and misleading statement”. CBI deputy legal counsel, identified as Jitendra Kumar, allegedly committed suicide at his residence in south Delhi last week. At a press conference earlier on Monday, Sisodia claimed, “The CBI officer was pressured to frame me in a false case. He could not bear the mental pressure and committed suicide.”
A few hours later, “strongly” refuting Sisodia’s “malicious and misleading statement”, the central agency said in a statement, “It is clarified that the gentleman officer Late Shri Jitendra Kumar was in no way connected with the investigation of this case.” . He was deputy counsel in charge of the prosecution; in which capacity he oversaw prosecutors prosecuting already charged cases in Delhi. Further, according to the Delhi Police, which is investigating the death, the police officer did not hold anyone responsible for his death in his suicide note.
The CBI also clarified that the Delhi Excise Policy case has been investigated and as such no clean evidence has been handed over to any of the accused. Sisodia’s malicious and misleading statement is an attempt to divert attention from the ongoing investigation into the Delhi consumer policy case and also amounts to interfering with the investigation into the officer’s death,” the agency added. Reacting to CBI’s statement, Sisodia tweeted, “I agree that CBI officer Jitender kumar was not an investigator. He was the lawyer who handled my case. He was pressured to create a false story to implicate me. He couldn’t take the pressure and committed suicide.”
The CBI had raided Sisodia’s Delhi residence last month after registering an FIR to probe alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Consumer Policy issued in November last year. On Monday, Sisodia also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was only thinking of destabilizing governments in non-BJP states by poaching MLAs. “I want to ask the prime minister why there is so much pressure on officers that they are forced to take such extreme steps. Arrest me if you want, but don’t destroy the families of your officers,” he added. He also asked Modi if “Operation Lotus” was the only work the Center had.
