Delhi Liquor Policy: Sisodia Moves Court Seeking Bail In Money Laundering Case Filed By ED

Former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia has moved a Delhi court, seeking bail. The court will hear the matter on Friday.

Former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26 and was remanded to judicial custody until April 3 in the excise policy case being probed by the CBI.

Former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia, who is currently in custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), filed a bail petition in the Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday. He is in ED custody in connection with a money laundering case linked to the excise policy. The Delhi court has issued a notice to the ED, which is investigating the case.

The court will hear the matter on Friday, reported news agency PTI.

Sisodia stated that he has cooperated with the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) investigation into the excise policy case and that none of the searches have uncovered any incriminating material against him. Sisodia's lawyer argued that his custodial interrogation was no longer necessary and that he was not a flight risk, reported PTI.

The lawyer also pointed out that Sisodia's case was weaker than that of two other public servants who had not been arrested, despite facing more severe allegations. Furthermore, there was no documentary evidence of receiving kickbacks against him, and the change in the excise policy was done in the normal course of business. The excise policy change was reviewed by the Delhi Lieutenant Governor and the finance secretary, among others.

Sisodia's counsel stated that all the alleged offences in the case carry a sentence of less than seven years, and any further incarceration is unjustified.

The CBI, which opposed Sisodia's bail plea, argued that he had dealt with an unprecedented number of 18 ministries, and while he may not be a flight risk, he is a risk for evidence destruction. The CBI counsel stated that frequently changing phones by the former deputy chief minister was not an innocent act but was deliberately done to destroy evidence in the case.

The CBI counsel further noted that the probe agency has 60 days to file the chargesheet in the case, and if Sisodia were to be released on bail, the investigation would be seriously compromised. The counsel added that Sisodia was in a position to influence witnesses and destroy evidence in the case.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26 and was remanded to judicial custody until April 3 in the excise policy case being probed by the CBI. He is currently in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a related case. On March 9, the ED placed Sisodia under arrest in Tihar jail, where he was being held in connection with the CBI's case related to alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy for 2021-22.

The ED alleged that Sisodia had withheld information which is in his "exclusive knowledge" and "extremely relevant to the investigation". The facts which emerged after Sisodia's custodial interrogation included he being "involved in large scale destruction of digital evidence to impede the investigation and to erase evidence", the application said.

It alleged that during the one-year period of the liquor scam, Sisodia changed or destroyed 14 phones or IMEIs, of which only one phone could be recovered by the CBI and two were produced during interrogation by the ED. Sisodia changed or destroyed most of these phones right from the day of the complaint by the Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) to the CBI, which was also reported by the media on July 22 last year, the application claimed.

When questioned about the reason for changing a phone on July 22 last year, Sisodia said the phone was damaged. However, he was unable to answer what he had done with the broken or damaged phone, ED claimed.

(WITH PTI inputs.)