Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday alleged that a Central Bureau Investigation official died by suicide in Delhi last week after he was pressured to frame him in a false case.
Hours later, the CBI denied the allegations, calling Sisodia’s comments “mischievous and misleading”. The deputy chief minister then demanded an independent judicial inquiry into the official’s death.
A deputy legal advisor with the CBI, Jitendra Kumar, was found dead at his South Delhi home last week, police said, according to PTI. The police recovered a suicide note and an investigation into the case is underway.
At a press conference on Monday morning, Sisodia alleged that Kumar was pressured to implicate him in a false case.
“He could not take the mental pressure and died by suicide,” the deputy chief minister claimed. “I want to ask the PM [prime minister] why officers are being pressured so much that they take such extreme steps.”
On August 17, the CBI booked Sisodia and 14 other persons alleging irregularities in a liquor policy which came into effect in Delhi on November 17. The policy has now been withdrawn. On August 30, the CBI also raided premises linked to the Aam Aadmi Party leader and other accused persons.
Soon after Sisodia made the allegations about the central agency putting pressure on Kumar, the CBI issued a statement claiming that the official was not linked to the 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 statement noted. Kumar had not held anybody responsible for his death in the suicide note that the police found, the statement added.
The agency alleged that Sisodia made the statement to divert attention from the investigation against him.
In response to the CBI’s statement, Sisodia said he agreed that Kumar was not an investigative officer, but the deputy chief minister reiterated his claims about foul play in the official’s death.
“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,” Sisodia wrote in a tweet.
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