Delhi Excise Policy Scam

The CBI had recently filed its first supplementary charge sheet in the case in which Sisodia, along with others, has been made accused. The court has taken cognizance of the charge sheet. Sisodia was brought to the lock up of the court room from where he was produced before the judge through video conferencing.

The ED also mentioned this fact in its fourth supplementary charge sheet filed in connection with the case. The court has taken cognisance of the charge sheet. The ED has claimed that it has enough evidence to prove that Sisodia was involved in money laundering and had allegedly generated proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 622 crore through various means.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's name was mentioned in the statement of accused-turned-approver, Dinesh Arora. The charge sheet also mentions the name of Sanjay Singh, but it does not specify whether it refers to the AAP Rajya Sabha by the same name or someone else.

In the draft Cabinet Note, the legal opinions of Ranjan Gogoi and K.G. Balakrishnan, both former Chief Justice of India (CJI), Mukul Rohtagi, senior advocate and former attorney general of India (AGI) and others were obtained. The CBI has claimed that their legal opinions were mostly in favour of maintaining the status-quo (which means the policy which was being brought should be stalled).

The senior AAP leader had moved to the high court on April 3, seeking interim bail in the case on the grounds of his wife's illness. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma directed the jail superintendent to provide Sisodia with video conferencing facility to speak to his wife every alternate day between 3-4 p.m. as per prison rules, till disposal of bail plea.

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.

Appearing for the probe agency, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju submitted before the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma that "the change from 5 per cent to 12 per cent in the interest rate was made to get the kickback money. He (Sisodia) made the policy in such a way that guaranteed return in form of kickbacks came".

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma issued notice on Sisodia's bail plea and another application seeking interim bail on the ground of his wife's ill-health. ED's counsel Zoheb Hossain said that the response will be filed to both the bail applications within a week.

Buchi Babu in his statement said that in March 2021, accused Arun Pillai and Abhishek had connected with Vijay Nair and Sameer Mahandru on Zoom call in Delhi in respect of the business opportunities in the upcoming Delhi excise policy. Buchi Babu said there was a political understanding between K. Kavitha and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

Recently, the central agency moved a plea before the special PMLA court, seeking permission to further quiz them in judicial custody. Upon hearing their contention, the court granted them permission to visit Tihar Jail and record the statements.The ED has filed the third supplementary chargesheet in the matter and is likely to file the fourth soon.