Excise scam: Delhi court extends Manish Sisodia's judicial custody till May 12

A court here on Thursday extended till May 12 the judicial custody of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in a corruption case related to the alleged excise scam.

Special Judge M K Nagpal also directed the CBI to supply an e-copy of supplementary charge sheet, filed by the agency on April 25, to Sisodia.

During the hearing, Sisodia’s counsel urged the court to grant statutory/default bail to the AAP leader, claiming that the probe agency had filed an incomplete investigation in the case.

The argument was made by advocate Rishikesh after the agency submitted that the investigation in the case was still going on.

Prima facie it seems the agency is saying that further investigation regarding me is required/pending. Therefore, we reserve the right to file an application for statutory bail, the counsel said.

The court then asked the agency why it had not mentioned that the probe regarding Sisodia was complete. Sisodia was produced before the court during the proceedings.

You say you have filed supplementary chargesheet (in the stipulated time), but you have said investigation is pending in the case. Why have you not mentioned that chargesheet is filed on completion of investigation against Sisodia, the court asked.

The court further noted the submission made by defence counsel, who claimed that a copy of the chargesheet was required by Sisodia to see whether investigation qua him was complete.

The judge directed the CBI to hand over an e-copy of the chargesheet to Sisodia, though noting that it was not the stage to supply copy of the chargesheet.

The court had on March 31 dismissed Sisodias bail application in the case, saying he was “prima facie the architect” in the criminal conspiracy behind alleged payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore meant for him and his colleagues in the Delhi government.

The court had observed that the release of Sisodia, at the moment, will “adversely affect the ongoing investigation”.

The CBI had arrested Sisodia for alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

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