Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Friday sent former Deputy Chief Minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody till March 17 in connection with its money laundering probe in the Delhi liquor scam case. The Court had earlier reserved its order for some time on the ED’s plea seeking ten-day custody of Sisodia. The matter was heard by special CBI Judge M K Nagpal.
There was a conspiracy behind framing the now-scrapped excise policy, the ED told the court, adding that Sisodia’s aide Vijay Nair was coordinating the whole conspiracy. “The scam has multiple branches which involves government functionaries and middlemen and others,” the ED said.
The central probe agency has also named BRS leader K Kavitha as part of the conspiracy. “Between key players from South group to Vijay nair to kickbacks paid, the conspiracy was orchestrated by Nair and others from south group including K Kavitha,” the ED told the court.
The statement of K Kavitha’s former auditor Buchibabu was also read in court. The ED said, “He has disclosed that there was a political understanding between Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and K Kavitha. She also met Vijay Nair.”
The ED also noted that “destruction of digital evidence was done to derail the investigation.” The agency told the court that 14 phones were destroyed in a span of one year. “He (Sisodia) has also used sim cards and phones purchased in other person’s names so that he can give an excuse later,” the agency claimed.
The ED said it is seeking Sisodia’s remand to examine the money trail. The ED said Sisodia, in his statements, “has remained untrue and has given answers contrary to the statement given by independent people.”
The agency further elaborated and said the former deputy chief minister’s statement also differ on the part of increasing profit margins. “He says that the profit margins were doubled based on the previous calculations and the same was done. However, the excise commissioner has already stated that no discussion on the same took place in the Group of Ministers (GoM).”
Referring to meetings between the Restaurant Association and Sisodia, the ED said that following these meetings, relaxations were afforded to the restaurants in the excise policy, and the legal age of drinking was reduced among other things.
‘Not a Single Penny Linked to Me’
Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan appearing for Sisodia argued that in cases of money laundering, one must examine the concealment, possession, and use of the funds and trace them back to the individual. “However, in my case, not even a single penny has been linked to me. It is amusing to suggest that Vinay Nair acted as a representative of Manish Sisodia. The investigative authorities have failed to solve even a tiny portion of the alleged money trail.”
“You have to show that the money went to him. Let them show that even one rupee went to him (Sisodia),” he stressed.
“Is the process pure? Here it is not. It is malafide. It can’t be that a person is kept in custody in a special Act (PMLA) just to ensure that he does not get bail,” he noted while urging the court that such kind of conduct by the agency “must concern” the judiciary.
He argued that the ED’s remand application does not meet the test of section 19. “Court cannot ignore the timing of the arrest is malafide and only to keep a man in continued detention,” he said.
Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur, also appearing for Sisodia, told the court that it had become a “fashion” for authorities to assume they have the right to demand remand. “It’s time that courts come down heavily on the entitlement that they feel they have when it comes to remand,” he said.
The ED hit back, stating, “the guilt does not have to be established.” The agency argued that the requirement is that there should be a genuine case against the accused. “If policy is the matter of the executive, then there would not have been a coal scam or 2G scam,” it noted.
After hearing the arguments, the court deferred its ruling on the Enforcement Directorate’s request for a 10-day remand of Manish Sisodia. Later, the court ruled to send AAP leader Manish Sisodia to ED custody till March 17.
The Delhi court directed that Sisodia be produced at 2 pm after the ED moved a plea for issuing production warrants against the jailed leader. After his production, his custody will be sought formally from the court.
While there was heavy security deployment outside the Rouse Avenue Court, the third battalion of the Delhi Police escorted Sisodia from Tihar jail premises at 1:20 pm, and he will be produced in front of the court.
Sisodia was arrested by the ED on Thursday after his second round of questioning at Tihar Jail in connection with its money laundering probe into alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy.
Meanwhile, the former minister is also set to be produced before Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court for his bail hearing, nearly two weeks after he was arrested by the CBI.
Sisodia has been in judicial custody since the CBI arrested him on February 26 in connection with alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi liquor or excise policy for 2021-22.
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