Manish Sisodia played most important role in Delhi Excise Policy case: Delhi court while denying bail

A Delhi court on Friday said that former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia prima facie played the most important and vital role in the criminal conspiracy related to the alleged Delhi Excise Policy case [Manish Sisodia v Central Bureau of Investigation]..While denying bail to Sisodia in a corruption case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Special CBI judge MK Nagpal said that as per the prosecution's allegations and evidence, Sisodia can be held to be the architect of the criminal conspiracy. “The evidence collected so far clearly 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," the order reads. .Additionally, the court noted that there were serious apprehensions of Sisodia destroying, tampering with evidence or even influencing some prime witnesses in the case if he was released on bail. .Rejecting bail on the ground of parity with other accused, the court said that Sisodia's role could not be equated with or put at par with the roles of the other three accused who had already been granted regular bail. “The evidence collected so far by the CBI not only shows applicant's active participation in the above criminal conspiracy, but also the prima facie commission of some substantive offences of the PC Act by him.”.Sisodia and other members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are accused of manipulating the implementation of the Delhie Excise Policy to facilitate monopolisation and cartelisation of the liquor trade in Delhi. It is alleged that this was done against advance kickbacks of around ₹90-₹100 crore paid by persons carrying out liquor business from South India. To ensure repayment of the said kickbacks, certain provisions in the Excise Policy were inserted to favour the “South lobby” and other members of the cartel, it was alleged..It is claimed that the biased policy was prepared at Sisodia's instance while ignoring recommendations of the expert committee constituted, public opinion and adverse opinions expressed by certain legal luminaries. .Before examining the facts of the case, the court clarified that while bail is generally to be granted to an accused in cases where offences carry a maximum punishment of 7 years, this is not an absolute rule..Judge Nagpal then went on to delve deep into the facts of the case and found,“The allegations made against the applicant are serious in nature and at this stage of the case, he does not deserve to be released on bail as he has been arrested in this case only on 26.02.2023 and investigation even qua his role has still not been completed.".Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26 after an interrogation that lasted nearly eight hours.A Delhi court had, on February 27, remanded Sisodia to CBI custody till March 4 after he was arrested. He remained in CBI custody till March 6. After that, he was sent to judicial custody..He was subsequently also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the money laundering case related to the same scam and was remanded to ED custody on March 10 for a week. On March 17, the court extended his custody for five more days.The matter had also travelled to Supreme Court, when Sisodia challenged his arrest. However, the apex court refused to entertain his plea and asked him to approach the Delhi High Court first.On March 3, Sisodia filed for bail before the Rouse Avenue Court..Senior Advocates Dayan Krishnan, Mohit Mathur and Siddharth Aggarwal, along with Advocates Vivek Jain, Rishikesh Kumar, Mohd. Irshad, Karan Sharma, Abhinav Jain, Rohit Kaliyar, Mohit Siwach, Harsh Gautam, Rishabh Sharma, Sanjeevi Seshadri, Sreedhar Kale, Kumud Ranjan Mishra and Mohit Bhardwaj appeared for Sisodia.Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh, DLA Raj Mohan Chand, and Senior Public Prosecutor Pankaj Gupta represented the respondents. .[Read Order]