Excise scam: Court extends Sisodia's judicial custody till May 23
Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 May, 2023 12:30 PM
New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) A Delhi court on Monday extended AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's judicial custody till May 23 in connection with the Delhi excise policy case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The ED has alleged that Sisodia was the mastermind behind the entire excise policy case and that he had deliberately leaked the policy to the co-accused to generate financial kickbacks.
Sisodia is currently in judicial custody.
The ED had arrested Sisodia on March 9 after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested him on February 26 this year.
Last month, Special CBI Judge M. K. Nagpal of Rouse Avenue Court had denied bail to Sisodia, holding that the evidence, prima facie, "speaks volumes" of his involvement in the offence.
Last week, High Court judge Dinesh Kumar Sharma sought the ED's response to Sisodia's bail plea and another application seeking interim bail on the ground of his wife's ill-health and listed the matter for further consideration on May 11.
In the case being probed by the CBI, Delhi court extended Sisodia's judicial custody till May 12.
Accused Aaftab Amin Poonawala is accused of killing his live-in partner Walkar and then chopping her body into several pieces and storing them in a refrigerator before disposing of them in the Chhatarpur forest near his house over a period of three months.
After the process of identification is over, the bodies will be brought to Ghazipur. On January 16, family members of the four youths were sent to Kathmandu by road with head of Chak Jainab village Vijay Jaiswal, nayab tehsildar and a revenue inspector to claim and bring back the bodies.
Also on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on the occasion of Parakram Jayanti and said: "Today, on Parakram Diwas, I pay homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and recall his unparalleled contribution to India's history."
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Health Minister Balbir Singh said the inauguration program would be held in Amritsar on January 27. The Chief Minister will inaugurate the clinics, while AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will attend the programme as the chief guest.
A police official said that during normal checking of vehicles on Sunday night in Imphal, two persons were apprehended and the drugs, smuggled from Myanmar, were recovered from their procession. The drug peddlers, identified as Md. Abdul Salam and Md. Wasim Akram, have been arrested under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The bodies of a married couple and their two children, aged three and 11, were found metres from the border on Jan. 19, 2022. Investigators have said they believe the deaths were linked to a human smuggling operation, and a man charged in the U.S. is to stand trial later this year.
