New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused bail to former deputy chief minister of the state Manish Sisodia in a case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the alleged liquor policy scam.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader was a powerful person and could influence witnesses if released on bail.
“The allegations are very serious in nature. The accused was a public servant… We have neither investigated the excise policy nor the power of the government. However, the applicant being a powerful person, he is likely to influence the witnesses,” the judge observed. Said,
After the trial court rejected Sisodia’s bail application on March 31, Sisodia moved the High Court.
Justice Sharma also said on Tuesday that the “excise policy was framed at the behest of South Group with the intention of giving undue advantage to them. Such conduct points to the misconduct of the applicant who was in fact a public servant and very high was in office.”
The court noted that Sisodia had held the post of Deputy Chief Minister with 18 portfolios during the tenure of the alleged scam. Since the witnesses were largely public servants, the possibility of the judge being influenced could not be ruled out Said,
The CBI had arrested Sisodia in this case on 26 February. He was later arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 9 March.
Investigating agencies have alleged that Sisodia, along with other AAP members, granted liquor licenses to a group of southern leaders in exchange for a bribe of Rs 100 crore.
He said that the now withdrawn Excise Policy of 2021-2022 was changed and the profit margin was changed to benefit these traders.
The ED had identified these politicians and businessmen as ‘South Group’. The group reportedly included YSRCP Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (MSR), his son Magunta Raghava Reddy and BRS MLC K. Kavitha, who was represented by businessman Arun Ramachandra Pillai.
It also stars Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinapalli, chartered accountant Buchibabu Gorantla and P. Sarath Chandra Reddy, director of a major pharma company.
The ED, probing him for money laundering, in its chargesheet alleged that liquor wholesaler Sameer Mahandru and AAP’s communications in-charge Vijay Nair conspired with the South Group.
The CBI and ED first registered cases against Sisodia after the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi VK Saxena recommended a CBI inquiry based on a report by the Chief Secretary of Delhi.
Sisodia has maintained that he is innocent of the allegations and added that the policy and the changes made in it were approved by the LG.
Sisodia is currently in judicial custody. He was denied bail by a special judge in the CBI case on March 31. The lower court had on April 28 denied him bail in the ED case as well. The AAP leader has moved the High Court for bail in the ED case – which is pending.
Sisodia will now go to the Supreme Court for bail in the CBI case.
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