New Delhi, April 12 (IANS) A Delhi court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing in AAP leader Manish Sisodia's bail plea in connection with the Delhi excise policy case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The ED submitted before the bench of special judge M.K. Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court that Sisodia had planted fabricated e-mails to show that there was public approval for the policy.
"We have evidence that Sisodia had e-mails planted. These were received not only in the official e-mail account of the excise department, but even in his personal e-mail account. The content of the e-mails was given by Sisodia which suited his agenda," the ED counsel told the court while opposing Sisodia's bail plea.
The directions to send these pre-drafted e-mails were given to Zakir Khan, Chairman of Delhi Minorities' Commission, who then asked his interns to send the e-mails, the ED told the court.
"Fabricated e-mails were sent to show that there was public approval for the excise policy. It was a sham approval. An illegal ecosystem was created to give benefits to the liquor cartels in lieu of kickbacks," the ED counsel said.
The ED's special public prosecutor Zoheb Hossain then told the judge that the agency wants to show him the case diary. To this, Sisodia's counsel said that it should not be done so in secrecy.
"Sealed cover business should go. If something is used against me to deny me my liberty, if they are relying on something behind my back, it should be shown to me as well," the counsel said on behalf of Sisodia.
However, the probe agnecy said that the 60 days given to complete the investigation against Sisodia are not over yet.
The ED counsel said: "We will show it to you after 60 days."
The court then adjourned the matter for next hearing on April 18.
On April 5, the ED had informed special judge Nagpal that it has found fresh evidence indicating Sisodia's involvement in the alleged excise policy scam, and the investigation is at a crucial stage.
The court had extended the AAP leader's custody till April 17 in this case.
Advocate Vivek Jain, representing Sisodia, had told the court that the ED lacked evidence to support the accusation that his client was involved in money laundering.
The cause of the provocation is yet to be ascertained, an official told IANS, adding the situation is under control. Videos of the ruckus were viral on the social media. Many parked vehicles and a nearby police station was pelted on with stones.
The court had, on March 4, extended Sisodia's CBI custody for two days and listed his bail plea for March 10 and in the last two days, the CBI questioned him with key witnesses -- former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna and former excise department secretary C. Arvind -- in this case, who recorded their statements in front of a magistrate.
A police official said that the two men, wearing masks, entered the bank branch at around 9.45 a.m. when only three employees were present there, and threatened the staff with a pistol. They forced the staff to open the vault where Rs 10 lakh was kept and fled with the money by 10.30 am.
The Chief Minister, who reviewed the arrangements for the mega event here, said Punjab is fully ready to host the sessions and asked the officers to ensure foolproof arrangements for the working sessions slated to take place at the holy city of Amritsar next week.
The arrested customers have been identified as Anil, Rajan, Sagir, Abhishek and Harish. The house belongs to one Neeraj Bhati. Police recovered six mobile phones, Rs 2,100 in cash and objectionable items from their possession.
As during over one-hour address in English, the Governor was referring to 36 government school principals being sent on a five-day leadership development programme to Singapore, Bajwa again stood up and reminding Purohit about his letter to Mann on the issue.
