New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday denied bail to senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in a case related to the excise policy scam. While rejecting the former Delhi deputy chief minister’s bail plea, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said that the allegations against him are ‘very serious’. Justice Sharma also said that Sisodia is an ‘influential man’ and that the possibility of ‘witnesses being influenced’ if he is released on bail cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Manish Sisodia on February 26 this year for alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 following several rounds of questioning. He then challenged the March 31 order of a trial court which had dismissed his bail plea in the matter, saying he was ‘prima facie the architect’ of the ‘scam’ and had played the ‘most important and vital role’ in the criminal conspiracy related to alleged payment of advance kickbacks of Rs 90-100 crore meant for him and his colleagues in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government.
The AAP leader is also in custody in a related money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Delhi Excise Policy scam case
The Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 came into being in November 2021 but was later scrapped following allegations of corruption. It is alleged that the policy favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes for it, a charge strongly refuted by the AAP.
It is also alleged that irregularities were committed, including modifications in Excise Policy, extending undue favours to the licensees, waiver/reduction in licence fee, the extension of L-1 license without approval etc.
According to CBI, it is alleged that illegal gains on the count of these acts were diverted to concerned public servants by private parties by making false entries in their books of accounts.
Sisodia ‘planted’ manufactured public opinion to support his ‘pre-conceived’ ideas of excise policy
The CBI has reportedly alleged in its supplementary charge sheet that Manish Sisodia ‘planted’ manufactured public opinions in support of the excise policy by getting favourable views from interns of the Delhi Minority Commission to make grounds for the now scrapped policy. The Delhi government had constituted an expert committee on overhauling the excise policy, which had given its recommendations.
Sisodia was ‘unhappy’ with the recommendations, so he asked the then excise commissioner Rahul Singh to seek public opinion by placing the Dhawan Committee report on web site, the probe agency reportedly said in the charge sheet filed before the Special CBI court on April 25.
In the supplementary charge sheet filed in the case against Sisodia and other accused, the central agency also said he ‘dishonestly and fraudulently’ wanted to prepare grounds through ‘fabricated public opinions’ for incorporating provisions in the policy as per his ‘pre-conceived’ ideas.
Bureau Report
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