Manish Sisodia breaks silence on arrest of OSD, says 'CBI should punish him severely'

Breaking silence, Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday welcomed the move of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the arrest of the Officer on Special Duty (OSD). Taking to the micro-blogging site, Sisodia demanded that the officer must be punished severely. He also mentioned that he himself has caught corrupt officers in his five-year tenure.

In his tweet, Sisodia said, "I have come to know that the CBI has arrested a GST inspector taking bribe. This officer was also posted in my office as OSD. The CBI should immediately punish him severely. I have got many such corrupt officials caught in the last 5 years."

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Later, while speaking to the media, Sisodia said, "I got to know that an officer who is posted at GST and has been an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) with me for five years has been arrested for taking a bribe of Rs 2 lakhs. What CBI did is right, the strictest action should be taken to set an example. I have no issues with the timing of the arrest, whoever takes bribe should be caught immediately. We have zero-tolerance for corruption."

"I assure that I will take action against him, after forming of our government, to set an example. Had I known about him earlier, I would have got him caught. There is no question of timing on his arrest, action against corruption must be taken at the time the incident comes in light," he added.

OSD arrested by CBI

The CBI on Thursday arrested a Delhi government officer understood to be the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in an alleged bribery case of Rs 2 lakh, officials said. Gopal Krishna Madhav was arrested in a late-night operation for allegedly receiving a bribe of over Rs 2 lakh in a matter related to GST, they said.

Madhav was immediately taken to the CBI headquarters for questioning, the officials said. No involvement of Sisodia in the case has surfaced so far and the investigation is going on, sources said. Madhav was posted in the office of Sisodia in 2015, the officials said. The arrest comes two days before the crucial Delhi assembly election.

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Delhi election 

New Delhi will go to polls in a single-phase on February 8 and the counting of votes will take place on February 11. The last day of filing nominations for the candidates was on January 21. The BJP has fielded Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha president Sunil Yadav against Delhi CM Kejriwal from New Delhi constituency, and the Congress has pitted former NSUI Delhi president Ramesh Sabharwal against him. BJP is trying to make advances in the upcoming Assembly elections after the 2015 debacle where it won only 3 seats. During the 2015 elections, AAP won 67 seats out of the 70-seat Assembly.

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