Manish Sisodia misused official position, dishonestly introduced changes to Excise Policy: CBI in Delhi HC

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday opposed the bail plea moved by Delhi's former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in Delhi High Court and said that the AAP leader "misused" his official position and dishonestly introduced changes to the Excise Policy under the influence of the South Group, through his close associate Vijay Nair.

CBI further added that the changes introduced by the applicant in the Excise Policy not only facilitated the cartelization of the liquor trade in Delhi by the South Group but also enabled the South Group to recover the kickbacks paid by them upfront. As a part of the said conspiracy, the Applicant increased the wholesale profit margin from 5 per cent to 12 per cent without any cogent reason or justification. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju also submitted that the applicant misused his powers and introduced favourable provisions in the new policy.

"This was done to facilitate the monopolization of wholesale and retail liquor trade in Delhi for the accused persons of the South Group for siphoning off 6 per cent out of 12 per cent windfall profit margin for wholesalers provided in the policy in lieu of upfront money/ kickbacks of Rs 90- 100 Crores paid by the South Group. Out of the said amount, INR 30 crores was paid through Hawala channels using Dinesh Arora. Further, cash payments through Hawala channels were made by Vijay Nair, close associate of the Applicant, to vendors engaged by Aam Admi Party for Goa Assembly Election 2022 through Chariot Media of Rajesh Joshi," he said.

CBI also submitted that It is a "deep-rooted conspiracy". It is not as simple as depicted by them. Yesterday, we have filed the chargesheet in the case naming four fresh accused including Manish Sisodia and cognizance is yet to be taken on the chargesheet.
ASG SV Raju and Special Public Prosecutor DP Singh appeared for the CBI in the matter and Senior Advocates Dayan Krishnan and Mohit Mathur appeared for the Manish Sisodia, in Delhi High Court.

The Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma on Wednesday after taking note of the lengthy submissions made by CBI, fixed April 27, 2023 date for further hearing.
In its reply, the CBI also said, "The applicant (Sisodia) enjoys close nexus with the executive, offices and bureaucrats and his influence and clout is evident. His party colleagues holding high ranks continue to make factually wrong claims in order to influence the investigation and also claiming the applicant to be victim of a political vendetta."

A perusal of the said statements by this political leader (s) during the press conferences would reveal how the entire efforts of not only the Applicant but his party colleagues as a whole are to shield the accused, stated CBI in its reply opposing bail plea of Sisodia in Excise case.
Earlier, Manish Sisodia through Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan submitted that the Central Bureau of Investigation has no evidence to show his involvement in the alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government.

The lawyer submitted that every accused in the CBI case has been released on bail except Sisodia. Sisodia was arrested on February 26, 2023, after more than six months after the Registration of FIR in the matter. And during the entirety of said investigation of six months before the arrest of the applicant, there was not a single that Applicant extended any threat to any witness.

"Sisodia (Applicant)in his bail stated that the possibility of a threat to witness cannot be said to arise without there being any material or antecedents of the Applicant. The witnesses in this case against the applicant are primarily civil servants, over whom the Applicant exercises no control, especially now since he has resigned from his official post," he said.

Earlier the Delhi HC had issued notice to CBI on a bail plea moved by Manish Sisodia challenging a trial court order denying bail to him in a CBI case related to Excise.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, and is presently in Judicial custody. His bail plea was on March 31, 2023, by the trial Court in the case.

The trial Court while dismissing Sisodia's bail plea said, "The court is not inclined to release him on bail at this stage of investigation of the case as his release may adversely affect the ongoing investigation and will also seriously hamper the progress".
Sisodia was arrested by CBI and ED in an ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. (ANI)