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Delhi court seeks ED, CBI response on Manish Sisodia's bail plea in excise policy case
A court in Delhi sent notice to ED and CBI, seeking a response regarding AAP leader Manish Sisodia's bail plea.
A Delhi court on Friday sent a notice to the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking a response on the interim bail plea of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia. Sisodia was jailed in the Delhi excise policy case, and is seeking interim bail in order to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Special Judge for the CBI and ED, Kaveri Baweja, directed the central probe agencies to file their replies by April 20, when the court is likely to take up the application for hearing.
The CBI as well as the ED have alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Delhi excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and licences were extended without the competent authority's approval.
The two probe agencies have also alleged that the beneficiaries from the case diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.
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Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26, 2023, for his alleged role in the "scam". The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Sisodia in a money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023.
After his arrest by the CBI, Sisodia stepped down from the position of Delhi deputy chief minister, and all other cabinet positions held in the national capital.
Arvind Kejriwal moves Supreme Court against arrest
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's judicial custody was extended till April 15 in the money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy. After the Delhi high court rejected his petition against his arrest, Kejriwal approached the Supreme Court regarding the same.
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Kejriwal mentioned in his plea that the ED doesn't have any solid proof or allegation against him in their chargesheet, hence the arrest should be deemed “illegal”. Meanwhile, the probe agency said that they established a money trail, the proceeds of which can be traced back to the Delhi CM.
(With inputs from PTI)
