Supreme Court: In a bail application filed by former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, in liquor Policy Excise Scam, the Three Judge Bench of Sanjiv Khanna, Bela M Trivedi and Ujjal Bhuyan, JJ., issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (‘CBI’) and Directorate of Enforcement (‘ED’).
An FIR dated 17-8-2022 was registered by the CBI against Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Delhi under Section 120-B read with Section 477-A of Penal Code, 1860 (‘IPC’) and Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (‘PCA’) for irregularities in framing and implementation of the excise policy of Government of Delhi for the year 2021-2022. The Office Memorandum (‘OM’) disclosed that the Sisodia along with Arva Gopi Krishna, the then Commissioner (Excise), Government of Delhi and Pankaj Bhatnagar, Assistant Commissioner (Excise), Government of Delhi were instrumental in recommending and taking decisions pertaining to excise policy for the year 2021-2022 without approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favors to the licensees post tender.
ED had also registered a money laundering case against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The allegations against him were that Manish Sisodia being the deputy Chief minister and Excise Minister, formulated the excise policy in such a manner that undue advantage goes to the manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer to recoup the advance kickbacks and to further gain undue advantage from the profit so earned by virtue of the provision in the new excise policy.
The Delhi High Court had previously denied bail to Manish Sisodia and opined that “the gravity of the allegations against the petitioner were very serious in nature and in view of the peculiar facts, this matter must be visited with a different approach as a deep-rooted conspiracy involving huge loss of public funds had been alleged.”
Aggrieved by the order of the Delhi High Court wherein his bail plea was rejected, he had approached the Supreme Court.
Source: Press
or
Delhi Court denies bail to Manish Sisodia in Delhi Liquor Excise Policy Case
Manish Sisodia’s Image Courtesy: Aam Aadmi Party’s Official Website
Buy Penal Code, 1860 HERE
