On April 26, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) opposed the bail plea moved by Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in Delhi High Court. It said that the AAP leader “misused” his official position and dishonestly introduced changes to the Excise Policy under the influence of the South Group through his close associate Vijay Nair.
Further the CBI added that the changes introduced by the applicant in the Excise Policy facilitated the cartelisation of the liquor trade in Delhi by the South Group and enabled the South Group to recover the kickbacks they paid up front.
As a part of the said conspiracy, the applicant increased the wholesale profit margin from 5 per cent to 12 per cent without any cogent reason or justification. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju also submitted that the applicant misused his powers and introduced favourable provisions in the new policy.
“This was done to facilitate the monopolisation of wholesale and retail liquor trade in Delhi for the accused persons of the South Group for siphoning off 6 per cent out of 12 per cent windfall profit margin for wholesalers provided in the policy instead of upfront money/ kickbacks of Rs 90- 100 Crores paid by the South Group. Of the amount, INR 30 crores were paid through Hawala channels using Dinesh Arora. Further, Vijay Nair, a close associate of the applicant, made cash payments through Hawala channels to vendors engaged by Aam Admi Party for Goa Assembly Election 2022 through Chariot Media of Rajesh Joshi,” he said.
CBI also submitted that It is a “deep-rooted conspiracy”. It is more complex than depicted by them. Yesterday, we filed the chargesheet in the case naming four fresh accused, including Manish Sisodia and cognisance is yet to be taken on the chargesheet.
ASG SV Raju and Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh appeared for the CBI, and Senior Advocates Dayan Krishnan and Mohit Mathur appeared for the Manish Sisodia in Delhi High Court.
The Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, on April 26, after taking note of the lengthy submissions made by CBI, fixed April 27, 2023, the date for further hearing.
In its reply, the CBI also said, “The applicant (Sisodia) enjoys close nexus with the executive, offices and bureaucrats and his influence and clout is evident. His party colleagues holding high ranks continue to make factually wrong claims in order to influence the investigation and also claiming the applicant to be victim of a political vendetta.”
A perusal of the statements by this political leader (s) during the press conferences would reveal how the entire efforts of the applicant and his party colleagues are to shield the accused, stated CBI in its reply opposing the bail plea of Sisodia in the Excise case.
Earlier, Manish Sisodia, through Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan, submitted that the Central Bureau of Investigation has no evidence to show his involvement in the alleged irregularities in the framing and implementing the excise policy of the Government.
The lawyer submitted that every accused in the CBI case had been released on bail except Sisodia. Sisodia was arrested on February 26, 2023, more than six months after the Registration of FIR in the matter. And during the entire investigation six months before the arrest of the applicant, there was not a single applicant who threatened any witness.
“Sisodia (Applicant) in his bail stated that the possibility of a threat to witness cannot be said to arise without there being any material or antecedents of the applicant. The witnesses in this case against the applicant are primarily civil servants, over whom the applicant exercises no control, especially now since he has resigned from his official post,” he said.
Earlier, the Delhi HC had issued notice to CBI on a bail plea moved by Manish Sisodia challenging a trial court order denying bail to him in a CBI case related to Excise.
The CBI arrested Sisodia on February 26, 2023, and he is presently in Judicial custody. His bail plea was on March 31, 2023, by the trial Court in the case.
While dismissing Sisodia’s bail plea, the trial Court said, “The court is not inclined to release him on bail at this stage of investigation of the case as his release may adversely affect the ongoing investigation and will also seriously hamper the progress”.
CBI and ED arrested Sisodia in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
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