New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of former state deputy chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in a case pertaining to a scrapped excise policy that is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
The court also dismissed similar petitions of former AAP communication in-charge Vijay Nair, Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinpally, and manager of liquor firm Pernod Binoy Babu Binoy.
Sisodia is also being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the same case. He was arrested by the CBI on 26 February — and then by the ED — for alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the 2021-22 excise policy and the subsequent money trail.
The CBI has called him the “chief architect” of the conspiracy, stating that the excise policy was framed by top AAP leaders to continuously “generate and channel illegal funds to themselves”.
The ED has said the policy was formed with “deliberate loopholes to facilitate illegal and criminal activities”.
The CBI has said Sisodia misused his powers to “introduce favourable provisions in the new policy” to allegedly facilitate the monopolisation of wholesale and retail liquor trade for the “South Group”, who they allege paid up Rs 100 crore upfront as kickback.
The “South Group” in question comprises Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K. Kavitha — who is also the daughter of Telangana Chief Minister KCR — and Hyderabad-based businessman Abhishek Boinpally, among others.
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