Excise policy case: Court extends custody of Sisodia, others till May 8

A court here on Friday extended the judicial custody of AAP leader Manish Sisodia, co-accused Vijay Nair and others till May 8 in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

The accused persons were produced before Special Judge Kaveri Baweja through video conferencing on the expiry of their judicial custody granted earlier.

The judge also directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to submit a report on how much time it was likely to take to digitize the documents related to the charge sheet.

During the proceedings, ED's special public prosecutors Naveen Kumar Matta and Simon Benjamin alleged that the accused persons were delaying the proceedings and that they were not willing to expedite the hearing.

Earlier, the court sent Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BRS leader K Kavitha to judicial custody till May 7 in the case.

The ED alleged that Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the major beneficiary of the proceeds of crime generated in the alleged liquor scam.

The ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval.