New Delhi: Manish Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister of Delhi, had his bail application in the CBI's excise policy scam case denied on Friday. The judge said that Sisodia was "prima facie the architect" and "played the most important and vital role" in the criminal conspiracy involving the alleged payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore, intended for him and his colleagues in the Delhi government. According to special CBI judge M K Nagpal, of the advance kickbacks amount, Rs 20-30 crore was found to be routed through the "co-accused Vijay Nair, Abhishek Boinpally, and approver Dinesh Arora," and his release at this time would "adversely affect the ongoing investigation." The senior AAP leader has been in custody since February 26 in connection with the case.
After extensive questioning by the CBI, on February 26 the agency announced that they had detained Sisodia on charges of corruption related to the development and implementation of the now-defunct Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
Referencing the CBI's submissions on the investigation thus far, the judge elaborated on the criminal conspiracy aspect, saying that Sisodia played the "most important and vital role in the above criminal conspiracy" and that he had been deeply involved in the formulation and implementation of the said policy to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the said conspiracy.—Inputs from Agencies