New Delhi: A city court on Monday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to supply copies of the chargesheet and other documents to the accused in the alleged excise policy-linked money laundering case.
Delhi’s former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who are accused in the case and currently out on bail, appeared before the court through video conferencing.
Some defence counsels told the court that copies of chargesheet, other documents have not been supplied
Some counsels appearing for the accused told the judge that they had not received soft copies of the charge sheet and other related documents.
ED sought some more time to supply copies
The ED told the judge that it needed some some more time to supply the copies of digitised record/soft copies of remaining documents/devices to the accused.
Special Judge Kaveri Baweja took note of the submissions made by the ED and directed it to supply the copies of the chargesheet and other documents by November 13, when the matter would be heard next.
ED’s money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR
The ED’s money laundering case stems from a First Information Report (FIR) registered on August 17, 2022 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has alleged that the now-defunct Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 was tweaked to extend undue favours to license holders in exchange of kickbacks resulting in huge losses to the exchequer. Taking cognisance of the CBI FIR, the ED filed its money laundering case on August 22, 2022 to probe the alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the alleged “scam”.
What are the allegations?
The central agencies have alleged that around Rs 90-100 crore bribe was paid to the politicians of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national capital and other public servants by members of “south group” through co-accused to tweak the now-scrapped excise policy and Kejriwal, Sisodia and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K Kavitha played a key role in the alleged excise policy scam.
All accused in excise policy cases are currently out on bail
The Supreme Court granted bail to Kejriwal, Sisodia and Kavitha in the excise policy-related cases. All the accused in the money laundering case are currently out on bail in the money laundering and corruption cases registered in connection with the alleged irregularities in the excise policy “scam”.
