Excise policy case: Delhi court takes cognisance of ED's supplementary charge sheet against Sisodia
Darpan News Desk IANS, 30 May, 2023 10:19 AM
New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) A Delhi court on Tuesday took cognisance of the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) supplementary charge sheet against former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, in connection with the excise policy case.
Special judge M.K. Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court took cognisance after having reserved the order on May 19.
The court then issued summons to Sisodia for June 1. The same court had on May 23 extended the Aam Aadmi Party leader's judicial custody for the same date in the ED case.
On May 27, after taking cognisance of the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) supplementary charge sheet, the court had issued summons to Sisodia and three others for June 2. On May 12, Sisodia's judicial custody was also extended for the same date in the CBI case.
The ED had arrested Sisodia on March 9, after the CBI arrested him on February 26 this year.
Special public prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta filed the charge sheet, which runs into over 2,100 pages.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Delhi High Court dismissed Sisodia's bail plea in the excise policy case being probed by the CBI.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma pronounced the order on his bail plea after having reserved it on May 11. The judge said that the nature of the allegations is quite serious that the excise policy was formed at the instance of the South Group with mala fide intentions to give undue advantages to them.
While denying Sisodia bail, the judge also said that Sisodia being an influential person can influence the witnesses, who are also public servants.
Sisodia had challenged special judge M.K. Nagpal's order denying him bail on March 31.
The Chief Minister said: "Before 2017, the state was infamous for riots. More than 700 riots rocked the state between 2012 and 2017. But not a single riot broke out after 2017. Earlier, just the names of many districts scared people. Now there is no need to be scared.
On April 5, the ED had informed Judge Nagpal that it has found fresh evidence indicating Sisodia's involvement in the alleged excise scam, and the investigation is at a crucial stage. The court had extended AAP leader's custody till April 17 in this case.
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A soldier died of a gunshot wound at around 4.30 p.m on Wednesday. He was on sentry duty with his service weapon. The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to the soldier, it said. The gunshot wound was near the right temporal region. He was immediately evacuated to the Military Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.
Alok Kumar, DCP Special Cell, said: "On April 8, acting on a secret information, the police laid a trap near Ghazipur Subzi Mandi and two key members of the syndicate were finally held with 2 kg of heroin." During questioning, Mohammad Alam disclosed that he had been supplying heroin for the last two years to different people in Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
In the last 24 hours, 441 doses were administered. The country has so far administered 220.66 crore vaccine doses. The active cases stand at 0.09 per cent and the recovery rate is 98.72 per cent.
