Delhi Excise policy case: Delhi High Court seeks ED's response on Manish Sisodia bail plea

The Delhi High Court Thursday issued notice to the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's bail plea in the money laundering case related to the alleged liquor policy scam. .Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma also issued notice on Sisodia's interim bail plea and listed the case for further consideration on May 11. The AAP leader has sought interim bail on the grounds of medical condition of his wife. .During the hearing today, ED's Special Counsel Zoheb Hossain submitted that Sisodia is one of the key conspirators in the case. However, Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan challenged the assertion and said such statements cannot be made without filing a reply. .Sisodia has been behind bars since February 26 when he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The ED subsequently registered the separate money laundering cases based on the CBI one..The trial court had rejected Sisodia's bail plea in the ED case on April 28. In his order, Special CBI Judge MK Nagpal had held that Sisodia was the main architect and brain behind the criminal conspiracy.The trial court had further said that Sisodia was responsible for changing the eligibility criteria of the wholesalers and their profit margins and this was done without without any discussions/deliberations in the Group of Ministers (GoM).Sisodia subsequently moved the High Court challenging the same. .It is alleged that Sisodia and other members of the AAP connived to grant liquor licenses to certain traders in exchange for bribes.The central agencies' case is that the excise policy was tweaked and the profit margins were changed in a manner that benefited certain traders and kickbacks were received in exchange for the same.The ED and the CBI registered cases in relation to the alleged scam after Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe based on a report by the Delhi Chief Secretary. The report claimed that Sisodia violated statutory provisions and notified a policy that had significant financial implications.Although Sisodia was not named in the CBI's chargesheet initially, the CBI filed an additional chargesheet on Tuesday arraying him as an accused in the case..AAP has denied the allegations and maintained that Sisodia is innocent.It is Sisodia's stance that the policy and the changes made in it were approved by the LG and that CBI is now going after the policy decisions of an elected government.His lawyers have argued that no money has been traced to the senior AAP leader and the agencies are re-evaluating the liquor policy which formulated by the elected government and approved by the Lieutenant Governor (LG).