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.
Officials of the central jail have not confirmed his release prematurely. Sidhu on May 20, 2022, surrendered before a court in Patiala in a 1988 road rage case that had led to the death of a 65-year-old man.
Out of total 36 people who died in the heart wrenching incident, the youngest victim was a two-year-old boy, Hitansh, while the eldest one was an 80-year-old woman identified as Jayvanti Devi, according to police. Most of the victims were women.
The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday gave nod for hiking the compensation due to unseasonal rains by 25 per cent per acre. A decision to this effect was taken by the Council of Ministers at its meeting held here.
The court had, on March 20, sent him to judicial custody till April 3. Judge Nagpal observed that the payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore was meant for him and his other colleagues in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
The Delhi government has called an emergency meeting after the Covid cases spiked on Wednesday. A total of 300 new Covid infections in the last 24 hours were recorded in the national capital, which is a rise over Tuesday's 214 cases, as per the Delhi government health bulletin.
Asserting that the situation was likely to worsen in the coming days, Badal said the summer season had not started but the state power utility had started imposing power cuts of as much as eight hours per day even in cities.
