Sisodia's OSD held after middleman named officer: Source

The CBI arrested an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in an alleged bribery case on the basis of information provided by 'middleman' Dheeraj Gupta, an official source said on Friday.

The agency had arrested OSD Gopal Krishna Madhav, a senior Delhi government officer, on Thursday on the charge of accepting Rs 2 lakh in bribe. The CBI is slated to present Madhav in a Delhi court later in the day.

The central agency had arrested Gupta on February 5. He is currently in judicial custody.

"During questioning, he had revealed that he was close to a tax officer in the Delhi government," the CBI source said. Following this, a trap was laid and Madhav arrested on Thursday evening.

The source said that Gupta was acting as a middleman on behalf of some Goods and Services Tax Department officers to collect bribe money from transporters for not levying GST on them.

The source said that Madhav had demanded Rs 2.26 lakh to settle an old tax case.

According to the Delhi government's website, Madhav is currently posted as OSD to Sisodia.

Earlier in the day, the Deputy Chief Minister demanded strict punishment to the arrested officer.

In a tweet in Hindi, Sisodia said he came to know that the CBI has arrested the Goods and Services Tax Inspector while taking a bribe. "The CBI should ensure strict punishment for him. I have caught many such corrupt officials in the last five years," Sisodia added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday claimed that the Kejriwal government was targeting traders. BJP's Delhi unit tweeted: "OSD to Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI while accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh in a GST case. He was posted in Sisodia's office since 2015. The total amount, however, was fixed at Rs 10 lakh. The Aam Aadmi Party government has been exploiting such traders, but Kejriwal has always maintained silence."-IANS