Court extends Sisodia's custody till May 23

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday extended till May 23 the judicial custody of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam. Special Judge M K Nagpal extended the custody of the AAP leader after he was produced before the court on expiry of his judicial custody granted earlier. The court noted the submission of the Enforcement Directorate's Special Public Prosecutor N K Matta, who submitted that the agency has filed a supplementary charge sheet against the accused, which is scheduled for consideration on May 10.

The court had earlier dismissed Sisodia's bail plea, saying "the case of economic offences has serious repercussions upon the general public and society at large as the evidence collected during investigation speaks volumes of his involvement in the commission of the said offence". The ED on March 9 arrested Sisodia in the liquor policy case.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI earlier in its ongoing investigation of a case related to alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. He is currently in judicial custody in both cases.

The excise policy case is a desperate attempt by the BJP to "malign an honest party like the AAP", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday. His remarks came after a Delhi court on Saturday granted bail to two accused in a money laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.

The court said the evidence against the accused, Rajesh Joshi and Gautam Malhotra, was not sufficient for the case against them to be considered prima facie "genuine". In a tweet, Kejriwal said, "The whole liquor scam is false. We were saying it from the beginning. Now even courts have started saying it. It's a desperate measure by BJP to malign an honest party like AAP."