A court here on Tuesday rejected bail pleas of former Deputy Chief Minister and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in the corruption and money laundering cases linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja declined both the petitions, saying the “stage was not right” for it.
Mr. Sisodia was arrested by the Central probe agencies in February last year. This is the second time that the trial court has rejected the bail pleas of Mr. Sisodia. His bail was first rejected on March 31, 2023.
The Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court had upheld the trial court’s order.
‘Mastermind of scam’
During the hearing on his bail applications, the CBI had submitted in the court that Mr. Sisodia is the “mastermind” and “architect” of the alleged scam.
Zoheb Hossain, the ED counsel, told the court that the Delhi excise policy was meant to be an “evergreen vehicle” to accumulate illegal gains.
The counsel representing the AAP leader argued that he has been in jail for over 14 months now and the trial going on for an indefinite time.
The case against Mr. Sisodia is based on an FIR registered by the CBI on the complaint of the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor, alleging irregularities in the excise policy for 2021-22, which was subsequently withdrawn.
After the CBI case, the ED lodged a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, alleging that the money earned through the policy was diverted through “hawala” channels for the AAP’s campaign in the 2022 Goa Assembly poll.
