Manish Sisodia Claims CBI Officer Died By Suicide Under Pressure To Frame Him, Demands Judicial Probe

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday claimed that a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer died by suicide as he was under pressure to falsely frame him in an excise case. He further said that there should be a judicial inquiry into the suicide.

Sisodia is being investigated by the CBI in the Delhi Excise Policy case. It's alleged that there are irregularities in the formulation and the implementation of the policy. The agency had raided his residence last month along with several other places across states and Union territories. 

Sisodia on Monday said, "A CBI officer was pressured to frame me in false excise case. He could not take the mental pressure and died by suicide two days ago. This is really unfortunate, I am deeply hurt. I want to ask PM why officers are being pressured so much that they are forced to take such extreme steps. Arrest me if you want, but don't destroy families of your officers."

The CBI, however, refuted Sisodia's allegation and said that the officer whose death Sisodia was referring to was in no way connected to the excise policy investigations. 

Jitendra Kumar, Deputy Legal Advisor of the CBI, was found dead in his South Delhi residence. He was found hanging. Police was quoted as saying at the time that a suicide note was recovered that no one was responsible for the Kumar's decision.

The CBI on Monday said, "The CBI strongly refutes this mischievous and misleading statement by Sisodia. It is clarified that the gentleman officer, Late Jitendra Kumar, was in no way connected with the investigation of this case. He was Deputy Legal Advisor in-charge of prosecution; in which capacity he was supervising prosecutors who are conducting the trial of already charge-sheeted cases in Delhi."

The CBI further said that Sisodia's statements were "an attempt to divert attention from the ongoing investigation in Delhi Excise Policy case".

Following CBI's rejection of Sisodia's allegations, he on Monday demanded "an independent judicial inquiry" into the death of Kumar.

Reacting to the CBI statement on Twitter, Sisodia insisted that Kumar was a law officer dealing with his case and repeated his allegation that the officer died by suicide due to the pressure to make a false story to implicate him.

"There should be an independent judicial enquiry - headed by a retired Supreme Court judge - into the causes of death of CBI Deputy Legal Advisor Late Jitendra Kumar," said Sisodia in another tweet. 

(With PTI inputs)