Day Before Delhi Polls, CBI Arrests Manish Sisodia's 'OSD' In Bribery Case

In a late-night development, a team of CBI officials arrested a man said to be the OSD to Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in an alleged bribery case. The official has been identified as one Gopal Krishna Madhav. He is a senior DANICS (Delhi, Andaman Nicobar Island Civil Services) officer. According to the government website, Madhav was appointed as an OSD to Sisodia right after the Aam Aadmi Party came to power in Delhi in 2015. Latest report say that Madhav was arrested in a trap case involving Rs 2 Lakh bribe. The arrest comes day before the crucial Delhi Assembly Elections. Delhi will vote on February 8 tomorrow and the results will be declared on February 11 next week.

CBI sources told News Nation that the investigation agency is also probing some other officials in the tax department. Sources say that these officials used to work in a nexus. Sources say that Madhav will be produced at around 3 pm in the special court where the CBI will demand the remand of the arrested official. Searches will also be conducted to probe the extent of the ‘nexus’, sources said. 

So far, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party or any other leader has not reacted on the matter. The Delhi poll campaigning that ended on Thursday saw bitter war of words between the AAP and the BJP. While AAP highlighted the work done in last five years, the BJP leaders’ provocative statement sparked massive controversies and ban by the Election Commission.

On Thursday, in their final electioneering push, the three key parties made last ditch efforts to seek votes and slugged it out over issues ranging from the amended citizenship law, appeasement politics and unemployment. On the last day of the campaign, Union Home Minister Amit Shah took out three road shows at Seelampur in northeast Delhi, and Hari Nagar and Madipur in west Delhi. 

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia took out a 'padayatra' in his Patparganj constituency in east Delhi. The BJP, which started the campaign with a focus on the development work done by the Centre for the national capital, took a sharp turn and made Shaheen Bagh, the epicentre of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protest in southeast Delhi, its main poll plank.

The saffron party's campaign saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi address two rallies while Home Minister Amit Shah addressed many more. BJP President JP Nadda and Yogi Adityanath were also in full throttle over the Shaheen Bagh protest.

(With agency inputs)