Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia, arrested in the Delhi liquor policy case, on Friday moved a city court seeking interim bail so that he can campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, reported PTI.
The court has sought the responses of the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate on Sisodia’s plea. The case will be heard on April 20.
The Lok Sabha elections in Delhi will be held in a single phase on May 25.
Sisodia, who has been named as a “key conspirator” in the liquor case, has been in jail since February 2023, when he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation. On March 9, 2023, the Enforcement Directorate arrested him in the same case.
On April 6, a Delhi court extended the judicial custody of the former Delhi deputy chief minister till April 18.
He was produced before special judge Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Courts on the expiry of his judicial custody.
On April 2, Sisodia told the Rouse Avenue Courts that he was eligible for bail as the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation had not been able to trace any proceeds of crime to him.
“There is no loss to the government exchequer,” advocate Mohit Mathur, representing the Aam Aadmi Party leader, told the court. “There is no loss to any individual. None of us who are consumers have been cheated of anything.”
Mathur argued that, on the contrary, the Delhi government’s revenue had increased after the now-scrapped excise policy was implemented in November 2021.
The case
The Enforcement Directorate’s case is based on a first information report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation alleging irregularities in the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy.
The agencies have alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government modified the policy to ensure a 12% profit margin for wholesalers and a nearly 185% profit margin for retailers.
The former deputy chief minister is accused of extra-procedural interference in framing the policy.
Three top leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, were arrested in the liquor policy case.
The Supreme Court granted bail to Singh on April 2 after the Enforcement Directorate said the Aam Aadmi Party leader’s custody was no longer required.
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