Manish Sisodia, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a former deputy chief minister of the nation’s capital, has had his judicial detention extended by the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi till May 31.
Since February 2023, Manish Sisodia has been detained by the court in relation to the Delhi liquor policy case.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, who was his supervisor, was also detained in relation to a money laundering investigation that was connected to the now-canceled spirits policy. He is still free until June 2 under temporary bail.
The Delhi high court is expected to deliver its verdict on Manish Sisodia’s bail pleas linked to the money laundering and corruption cases lodged by the ED and CBI respectively.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma is likely to pronounce the orders on both bail pleas at 5 pm today, per the cause list uploaded on the high court’s website.
On May 14, the Delhi high court reserved its order on Manish Sisodia’s pleas after hearing the arguments of the Aam Aadmi Party, CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.
Last week, ED named the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as an accused as it filed a fresh charge sheet against Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy case.
The ED and CBI have opposed releasing Manish Sisodia on bail, claiming concerted efforts by the accused to delay the process of framing charges.
The Enforcement Directorate and CBI claim AAP leaders received kickbacks from a group of businessmen and politicians in return for including favourable provisions in the excise policy. The policy was scrapped after Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor recommended a CBI probe into the allegations.
The ED has claimed that a significant portion of the kickbacks was funneled by the accused to fund AAP’s Goa assembly elections in 2022.
AAP has denied all the charges.
The probe agencies have alleged that the beneficiaries diverted “illegal” gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection.
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Source: HT
