Excise policy scam: Sisodia's bail plea in CBI case dismissed
Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 Mar, 2023 11:56 AM
New Delhi, March 31 (IANS) A Delhi court on Friday dismissed the bail plea by former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the now-scrapped excise policy case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
CBI Judge M.K. Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court had reserved his order on the matter on March 24.
The court had, on March 20, sent him to judicial custody till April 3.
During the pronouncement of order, Judge Nagpal said that Sisodia can, prima facie, be held to be the "architect of the criminal conspiracy".
He observed that the payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore was meant for him and his other colleagues in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
"The payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore was meant for him and his other colleagues in the GNCTD and Rs 20-30 crore out of the above are found to have been routed through the co-accused Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally and approver Dinesh Arora and in turn, certain provisions of the excise policy were permitted to be tweaked and manipulated by the applicant to protect and preserve the interests of South liquor lobby and to ensure repayment of the kickbacks to the said lobby," the court held.
The court is not inclined to release Sisodia on bail at this stage of investigation as his release may adversely affect the ongoing investigation and will also seriously hamper the progress, the order stated.
It said that the evidence collected by the probe agency so far shows that the applicant through the co-accused Vijay Nair was in contact with the 'South lobby' and formulation of a favourable policy for them was being ensured at every cost and a cartel was permitted to be formed to achieve monopoly in sale of certain liquor brands of favoured manufacturers and it was permitted to be done against very objectives of the policy.
"Thus, as per allegations made by prosecution and the evidence collected in support thereof so far, the applicant can prima facie be held to be architect of the said criminal conspiracy," the court said.
It held that the allegations made against Sisodia are "serious in nature" and he does not deserve to be released on bail as he was arrested in the CBI case only on February 26 and that the investigation qua his role has still not been completed.
Mere filing of a charge sheet against seven other co-accused in the matter does not matter much in a case like this where deep rooted conspiracy for commission of some economic offences effecting the people at large is alleged to have been committed, the court observed.
It said that the evidence collected so far by the CBI not only shows Sisodia's active participation in the criminal conspiracy, but also the prima facie commission of some substantive offences of the PC Act by him.
"There is also nothing apparent on record to infer or show that arrest of the applicant in this case was illegal or violative of any directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court or the Hon'ble High Courts and rather, the material placed before this court by the CBI justifies the arrest of applicant in the case," the court said.
During the last hearing, one of Sisodia's counsel had said that nothing exceptional was stated by the CBI which would warrant continued custody.
"Nothing on record to show that Sisodia will be threatening the witnesses," counsel said, arguing that Sisodia has cooperated with the CBI investigation and none of the searches have revealed any incriminating material against him.
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According to the police, the murder occurred on May 30 and so far, six body parts have been recovered while a search is underway for the missing remains. The accused have been identified as Poonam and her son Deepak. Sources said that after chopping Anjan Das's body, the duo had stored the body parts in their fridge and started gradually disposing them.
According to the official, the victim Sanjay Yadav has a property dispute with one Ramesh Yadav in the village Barihari under Chakia police station in the district. The neighbours rushed them to the primary health centre in Chakia where the woman succumbed to her injuries.
In a video doing rounds on social media, the men could be seen chasing the van carrying Aaftab and managing to open the van's rear door to find a policeman standing inside, in an apparent attempt to attack Aaftab.
According to Delhi Fire Service (DFS) Director Atul Garg, a call regarding fire at a shop was received around 9.20 p.m. on Thursday. "The fire was in the shop no 1868, near Gurudwara, in the Bhagirath Palace Market. So far 40 fire tenders have been rushed to the site and no causality has been reported," he said.
The CBI has chargesheeted Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, Sameer Mahendru, Arun Ramchandra Pillai, Mootha Gautham, and two government officers -- the then Deputy Commissioner of Excise Department Kuldeep Singh and then Assistant Commissioner of Excise Department Narender Singh. The charge sheet was filed before the Rouse Avenue Court.
