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.
Appreciating Justice Dhulia's position that wearing a hijab is a matter of choice, JIH Secretary Rahamathunnissa, in a statement, said: "We concurred with Justice Dhulia's remarks that the 'Karnataka High Court took the wrong path' and that Article 15 is "a matter of choice, nothing more and nothing else'."
A detailed study of the 10-page Ladhar report dated April 16, 2012, and other documents clearly show that Badal government allowed the former Patiala DC Vikas Garg (now Secretary, Transport) to escape trial by denying prosecution sanction to the court to put him on trial and also directing the Vigilance Bureau to cancel the FIR against him.
The couple which committed the heinous act have been identified as Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila, who used to run a massage centre near Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district at their house Shafi brought the two women to the couple's home in June and September, and they were brutally murdered by the couple.
The WHO had issued an alert on four India-made cough and cold syrups "potentially linked with acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children in Gambia". The WHO has informed that as per the tentative results received by it, out of the 23 samples of the products under reference which were tested, four samples have been found to contain Diethylene Glycol/Ethylene Glycol.
The visa backlog issue is of utmost concern to the Indian students who are trying to return to educational institutions in Australia following the Covid pandemic. Jaishankar, who is on his second visit to Australia, said he was assured that the situation has improved and about 77,000 Indian students are back in Australia.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Special Cell, Jasmeet Singh said that the arrested gangsters, identified as Deepak Arora alias Deepa alias Popat and Gulshan Kumar alias Gulia, were arrested from the Lado Sarai area in the national capital.
