Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of former deputy chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case.
The CBI had on February 26 arrested Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
A special Delhi court had on Monday extended the judicial custody of Sisodia.
Here’s what the Delhi Court order said
The Delhi court order, accessed by CNN-News18, said that Sisodia was not only an architect of the above criminal conspiracy, but also the brain behind insertion of clauses of 12 per cent profit margin for wholesalers and of enhancement of eligibility criteria for wholesalers from Rs. 100 crores to Rs. 500 crores.
According to the order, it appeared that Sisodia was responsible for keeping profit margin for retailers on the higher side i.e 185 per cent.
It further says that all this was done without any discussions and due deliberations in the meetings of GoM and even the concerned department of excise was not taken into confidence before doing it and no records, report or data was gathered or called from the said department before introducing the above clauses in the GoM report.
This all ultimately came to be incorporated in the excise policy of the government for the above said year.
Sisodia was also responsible for changing the GoM report unilaterally to suit the requirements of the South lobby, the order added.
A draft of GoM report is also alleged to have been shared with members of the South lobby staying in Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi during the relevant period and another GoM report containing the above favorable clauses was prepared by the applicant as per wishes and desires of the members of said lobby, it said.
Not inclined to grant bail
The court said that it was not inclined to grant bail in case of economic offenses that can have serious repercussions upon the general public and society at large.
It also said that evidence collected during the investigation speaks volumes of Sisodia’s involvement in commission of the said offense.
Before this, Special Judge M K Nagpal had extended the custody of Sisodia in the CBI case till April 27 and in the ED case till April 29, after he was produced before the court on the expiry of his judicial custody granted in the two cases earlier.
The special court had on March 31 dismissed his bail application in the corruption case, saying he was ”prima facie the architect” in the criminal conspiracy behind the alleged payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore, meant for him and his colleagues in the Delhi government.
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