Excise policy case: Manish Sisodia brought to court to attend proceedings

Former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was brought to the Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday to attend proceedings in connection with alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped liquor policy.

The court is scheduled to hear rebuttal arguments of Sisodia's lawyer in his bail plea.

On Monday, Special Judge MK Nagpal extended Sisodia's judicial custody in the CBI case till April 27 and in the ED case till April 29. The AAP leader was produced physically before the court from Tihar, after the end of his judicial custody.

Recently, Special Judge Nagpal denied bail to Sisodia stating that the allegations made against him are serious in nature and at this stage of the case, he does not deserve to be released on bail as he has been arrested in this case only on February 26, 2023, and investigation even qua his role has still not been completed, what to say about some other co-accused involved in the case whose roles are also yet being investigated.

Further, the Sisodia does not even satisfy the triple test keeping in view his conduct as reflected by the destruction or non-production of his previous mobile phones of the relevant period and also the apparent role played by him in not producing or missing the file of one Cabinet Note put up through the then Excise Commissioner Rahul Singh, there may be serious apprehensions of destruction or tampering of some further evidence and even of influencing of some prime witnesses of this case by him or at his instance, in case he is released on bail by the court, the court said.

According to the CBI, Sisodia had played the most important and vital role in the criminal conspiracy and he had been deeply involved in the formulation as well as the implementation of the said policy to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the said conspiracy.

The payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crores was meant for him and his other colleagues in the GNCTD and Rs 20-30 crores out of the above are found to have been routed through the co-accused Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally and approver Dinesh Arora and in turn, certain provisions of the excise policy were permitted to be tweaked and manipulated by the applicant to protect and preserve the interests of South liquor lobby and to ensure repayment of the kickbacks to the said lobby, noted the court.

The evidence collected so far clearly shows that the applicant through the co-accused Vijay Nair was in contact with the South lobby and formulation of a favourable policy for them was being ensured at every cost and a cartel was permitted to be formed to achieve a monopoly in the sale of certain liquor brands of favoured manufacturers and it was permitted to be done against very objectives of the policy.

Thus, as per allegations made by the prosecution and the evidence collected in support thereof so far, the applicant can prima facie be held to be the architect of the said criminal conspiracy, noted the Court.

Earlier, the Rouse Avenue Court, while sending Sisodia to CBI remand, directed that the interrogation of the accused during the remand period shall be conducted at some place having CCTV coverage, in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court and the said footage shall be preserved by the CBI.

Sisodia was arrested by CBI and ED in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.