Published Mar 03, 2023 | 11:10 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 03, 2023 | 11:11 PM
Manish Sisodia was arrested on 26 February in connection with the Delhi Excise Scam. (Creative Commons)
Manish Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi who was arrested in a corruption case related to the alleged Delhi excise scam, moved a city court on Friday, 3 March, seeking bail, his lawyer said.
The application is likely to come up for hearing before Special Judge MK Nagpal on Saturday, advocate Rishikesh said.
Sisodia was remanded in CBI custody on Monday and is scheduled to be produced before the court on Saturday, when his CBI remand ends.
Sisodia was arrested on 26 February evening by the CBI after it questioned him for around eight hours.
The next day, a special CBI court in Delhi remanded him in five-day custody of the central probe agency — till Saturday.
A bail plea by Sisodia was refused by the Supreme Court on 28 February, observing that just because the incident happened in Delhi, Sisodia could not come to the apex court directly, as he had remedies before the trial court concerned and then the Delhi High Court.
On the same day, Sisodia and Satyendar Jain — who was arrested 10 months ago on a money-laundering charge by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) — resigned from the Arvind Kejriwal Cabinet.
One of the accusations against Sisodia is that he colluded with the so-called “South Group” to tailor the Delhi excise policy to their requirements.
According to the CBI and the ED, the South Group paid the AAP leaders ₹100 crore in kickbacks.
The South Group, according to the ED, comprised BRS MLC K Kavitha, YSRCP MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, his son Raghava Reddy, and others.
On 22 and 23 February, the ED questioned the former chartered accountant of K Kavitha, Butchibabu Gorantla, to uncover more details of the South Group.
During the questioning, the ED mainly focused on Gorantla’s association with the members of the South Group in reportedly paying kickbacks to AAP leaders.
The ED officials also gathered information about Sarath Chandra Reddy, who was allegedly controlling the affairs of five retail zone licences owned by his three entities — TCL, Avantika, and Organomix — through Abhishek Boinpally and Chandan Reddy.
Gorantla was among the many persons and different stakeholders — including the approver Dinesh Arora, AAP media coordinator Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, and Arjun Pandey — who reportedly attended meetings held in May and June 2021 in Gauri Apartments, near The Claridges Hotel in Delhi, and at Hotel ITC Kohenur in Hyderabad.
With the help of the information already mentioned in the ED prosecution complaint filed before the court in New Delhi earlier, the investigative agency tried to learn more about the deal and the understanding between Kavitha and the AAP, wherein kickbacks were allegedly paid to the tune of ₹100 crore.
Kavitha is said to have accessed the Delhi liquor business specifically through the stakes in IndoSpirit of another accused, Sameer Mahendru, at the Okhla Industrial Area in New Delhi, the ED said in its prosecution complaint.
Ramachandran Pillai is said to have represented Kavitha in IndoSpirit. He became a partner in IndoSpirit on her behalf, ED added in that complaint.
It was also mentioned that he arranged funds for the investment that was required on paper to become a partner, adding that he attended a meeting at Oberoi Maidens along with Kavitha and others.
(With PTI inputs)
