New Delhi:
A court here on Friday dismissed the bail plea of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in the excise policy scam case of CBI, saying he was “prima facie the architect” and played the “most important and vital role” in the criminal conspiracy relating to alleged payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore, meant for him and his colleagues in the Delhi government. Observing that the release of the senior AAP leader, who is in custody since February 26 in the case, at the moment will “adversely affect the ongoing investigation”, special CBI judge M K Nagpal said of the advance kickbacks amount, Rs 20-30 crore was found to be routed through the “co-accused Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally and approver Dinesh Arora”.
The CBI had arrested Sisodia in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 on February 26, following several rounds of quizzing by the agency.
Elaborating on the criminal conspiracy aspect, the judge referred to the CBI’s submissions on the probe conducted so far and said Sisodia played the “most important and vital role in the above criminal conspiracy” and he had been deeply involved in formulation as well as implementation of the said policy to ensure achievement of objectives of the said conspiracy.
