The Delhi Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday extended the judicial custody of AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia till May 12 in the Excise Policy 2021-22 case that is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), reports ANI.
The former Delhi education minister, who was arrested on February 26 by the CBI, was brought to the court this afternoon.
On Tuesday, the federal probe agency, in its supplementary chargesheet in the excise case named Sisodia as the prime accused, among four people. The accused are Amandeep Singh Dhal, Arjun Pandey and Butchi Babu Gorantla in the case.
This is the second chargesheet filed by the CBI this year. It had earlier put the names of Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Arun Pillai, Sameer Mahendru, Gautam Mootha, Kuldeep Singh and Narendra Singh who were accused in the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 case.
All have been charged under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 7 (Offence relating to public servant being bribed), 7A (Taking undue advantage to influence public servant by corrupt or illegal means or by exercise of personal influence), 8 (Offence relating to bribing of a public servant) and 12 (Punishment for abetment of offences) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, reported The Indian Express.
Gorantla is allegedly the chartered accountant/auditor of K Kavitha, who is the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, while Amandeep Dhal is the owner of Brindco spirits. Pandey is allegedly the middleman.
The CBI case dates back to July 2022, when Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar submitted a report to Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena’s Office, alleging procedural lapses in implementing the policy and claiming that post-tender benefits were extended to the licensees.
The central agency registered a case on August 17, and two days later 21 locations, including that of Sisodia were raided.