Excise policy scam: Delhi court defers order on Sisodia's bail plea in ED case
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 26 Apr, 2023 11:51 AM
New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) A Delhi court on Wednesday deferred pronouncement of its order on AAP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's bail plea in connection with the Delhi excise policy case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Special judge M.K. Nagpal of the Rouse Avenue Court will now pronounce the order on April 28.
On April 18, he had reserved its decision on Sisodia's bail plea.
The court had, a day before, extended Sisodia's judicial custody by two weeks in the case.
The ED had earlier submitted before the judge that Sisodia had planted fabricated emails to show that there was public approval for the policy.
The directions to send these pre-drafted emails were given to Zakir Khan, Chairman of Delhi Minorities' Commission, who then asked his interns to send the emails, the ED claimed.
The probe agency had also said that the 60 days given to complete the investigation against Sisodia are not over yet.
It said that it has found fresh evidence indicating Sisodia's involvement in the alleged scam, and the investigation is at a crucial stage.
India’s government on Friday withdrew its appeal to citizens to mark Valentine’s Day next week not as a celebration of romance but as “Cow Hug Day” to better promote Hindu values. The appeal had attracted widespread criticism from political rivals and on social media.
In an appeal, the Chief Minister said the firing incidents at Behbal Kalan and Kotakpura in 2015 along with the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari had bruised the psyche of every human being especially the Sikh community.
With these arrests, the police have also solved 30 cases of snatching and theft and recovered 23 snatched mobile phones, several Aadhaar cards, pan cards, debit cards, four two-wheelers and metro cards from the possession of the gang members.
The decision of organising the mahapanchayat was taken in a meeting of the SKM, held in Haryana's Kurukshetra on Thursday, where office-bearers of the farmers' organisations from many states including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab participated.
The development came a day after the police arrested a juvenile and recovered 15 packets of heroin, weighing 15 kg, and Rs 8.40 lakh drug money from his possession in Amritsar.
The arrested accused has been identified as Vijay Kumar, a.k.a. Toti, while his three aides have been identified as Amardeep Singh, Sooraj Singh and Rahul Lahoch, all residents of Jalandhar. The main accused, Vijay, has been facing 18 criminal cases pertaining to drugs, illegal weapons, kidnapping and extortion.
