Delhi Court Fixes April 5 For Manish Sisodia's Bail Plea Hearing In Liquor Policy Case

New Delhi: The Rouse Avenue Court on Saturday fixed April 5 for a hearing on the bail plea of former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia in a money laundering case pertaining to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD). 

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday filed its lengthy reply opposing bail plea in the court. The Special Judge MK Nagpal adjourned the matter for April 5 and asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and served a copy of the reply to Sisodia's lawyer.

Mr Sisodia is presently in Judicial Custody till April 5 in an ED case related to the Excise policy.

Earlier, while sending Mr Sisodia to ED remand Court it was said that it cannot be ignored that investigation into an ED case is a complicated affair and keeping in view the intricacies of the case, the multiplicity of the persons/accused involved in the commission of the alleged offence of money laundering and the huge volume of the records or data seized during the investigation and required to be analysed by the Investigating Agency, it is bound to take some time and the IO or Investigating Agency cannot be faulted or blamed for the same, though they are duty bound to do and conclude it as early as possible.

The mobile phone was changed the day when the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi wrote to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was used by Mr Sisodia for a long time, it was submitted.

Advocate Zohaib Hossain, who is appearing for the  ED, submitted that huge and mobile data is being forensically analysed. It was submitted that the mobile phone used by Mr Sisodia for a long time was changed the day the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi wrote to the Central Bureau of Investigation. 

The counsel for ED had further submitted that the statements were confirmed by the recovery of the data received from the computer of the arrestee. Mobile data, email data and cloud data were received during the interpretation.

Earlier, the ED has said that the act of pro-active destruction of evidence leads to only one inference that Mr Sisodia made conscious efforts to destroy evidence of the offence of money laundering.

Advocates Zohaib Hossain and Naveen Kumar Matta had earlier submitted that even the statement given by Manish Sisodia on March 7 and March 9 this year has been untrue. "On being asked about his association with Dinesh Arora, who handled the transfer of kickbacks from the South Group to Vijay Nair, he gave an answer contrary to what has been revealed by independent persons/stakeholders."

The ED earlier also told the court that Mr Sisodia had purchased SIM cards and mobile phones in other people's names. There was a conspiracy behind framing the excise policy. The agency also argued that the conspiracy was coordinated by Vijay Nair, along with others and the Excise policy was brought out for extraordinary profit margin for wholesalers.

They also told the court that the margin of 12 per cent of wholesale profit margin to private entities was never discussed in the GoM meeting. Countering the arguments of Mr Sisodia's lawyer, the ED lawyer told the court that if the policy is a matter of executive then there would not be a coal scam or a 2G scam.

The ED on March 9 arrested the former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister in the liquor policy case, after hours of questioning at Tihar Jail. He was arrested during his judicial custody in Tihar Jail, where he was lodged after his arrest by the CBI.

Mr Sisodia had been arrested by the CBI in the liquor policy case on February 26. The same Court on March 24, had kept the order reserved on his bail plea in the CBI case and fixed March 31, for the pronouncement of the order. Mr Sisodia was arrested by the CBI earlier in its ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the excise policy of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD).

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