A Delhi court on Friday issued notices to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with AAP leader Manish Sisodia’s plea for interim bail in scrapped excise policy case in view of election campaigning for the upcoming polls.
Special Single Judge Kaveri Baweja presided over the hearing, directing the central agencies to submit their replies by April 20 and listing the matter for hearing on the same day.
This decision followed a request by Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain, representing both the ED and CBI, for additional time to prepare their responses.Advocate Vivek Jail presented Sisodia’s plea.
Both the CBI and the ED have accused individuals of irregularities in the modification of the Delhi excise policy. They claim that undue favors were granted to license holders, license fees were either waived or reduced, and licenses were extended without proper approval. The investigative agencies further allege that the beneficiaries diverted illicit gains to implicated officials and falsified entries in their accounting records to avoid detection.
Sisodia, who served as the deputy chief minister of Delhi, was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, for his alleged involvement in the excise policy ‘scam’.
Subsequently, the ED arrested him in connection with a money laundering case related to the same FIR on March 9, 2023.Sisodia tendered his resignation from the Delhi cabinet on February 28 last year.
He is currently in judicial custody till April 18.