Delhi court dismisses bail pleas of Manish Sisodia, says stage not right

A Delhi court on Tuesday, 30 April, dismissed the bail pleas of former deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia in the corruption and money laundering cases lodged by the CBI and the ED in relation to the alleged excise scam.

Special judge for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), Kaveri Baweja, denied the relief, saying the stage was not right to grant the bail.

The court had reserved the order after hearing arguments from the CBI and the ED as well as the counsel appearing for Sisodia.

The CBI as well as the ED had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Delhi Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to the licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and licences were extended without the competent authority's approval.

The beneficiaries allegedly diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, the probe agencies have alleged.

Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26, 2023 for his alleged role in the "scam". The ED arrested the former deputy chief minister in a money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023.

Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 2023.