Delhi court likely to pass order on Sisodia’s bail petition today

A court here is likely to deliver on April 28 its order on the bail application of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Special Judge M K Nagpal, who was scheduled to pronounce the verdict on Wednesday, deferred the matter, saying the order was not ready.
The court had reserved the order after hearing arguments on Sisodia’s plea seeking relief claiming that his custody was no longer required for investigation.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had opposed the application, asserting the investigation was at a “crucial” stage and claiming the senior AAP leader had planted fabricated e-mails to show there was public approval for the policy.
Earlier, the Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday extended till 12 May the judicial custody of Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in the CBI case related to alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped excise policy.
“Prima facie it seems the agency is saying that further investigation is pending. Therefore, we reserve the right to file an application for statutory bail,” he said.
The Delhi court asked CBI why they have not mentioned that investigation related to Sisodia has been completed.
The court had on 31 March dismissed Sisodia’s bail application in a corruption case, being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), 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.