Jailed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has been allowed to meet his ailing wife once a week.
Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26, 2023 for his alleged role in the Delhi excise policy case.
The ED later arrested Sisodia in a money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023 after questioning him in Tihar Jail. Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 2023.
The Delhi government had implemented the new excise policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
Advertisement
According to the investigating agencies, the profit margin of wholesalers was increased from five per cent to 12 per cent under the new policy.
The probe agencies have alleged that the new policy resulted in cartelisation and those ineligible for liquor licences were favoured for monetary benefits. However, the AAP-led Delhi government and Manish Sisodia have denied any wrongdoing and said the new policy would have led to an increase in the city government's revenue.
Manish Sisodia on Monday also sought early hearing of his two curative petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the 2023 verdict of the court denying him bail in the corruption and money laundering cases related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Advertisement
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was told by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Sisodia, that he has been languishing in jail for a year now and sought urgent listing of the curative petitions.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also for questioning in the alleged liquorgate. The chief minister has skipped summon five times so far, saying that the intent of the probe agency is to arrest him before Lok Sabha polls on the instructions of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power at the Centre.
