Excise ‘scam’: Sanjay’s ‘aide’ granted bail

PTI

New Delhi, January 24

A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to Sarvesh Mishra, an accused in a money laundering case related to the alleged excise scam involving AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh.

Special Judge MK Nagpal granted the relief to the accused, reportedly a close aide of Singh, on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with one surety in the like amount.

“The present application filed by Sarvesh Mishra seeking his bail in this case deserves to be allowed and the same is accordingly being allowed,” the judge said, and imposed various conditions on the accused.

The accused, who was not arrested in the case, had moved the plea after he appeared before the court in pursuance to summons issued by the judge. The judge had summoned Mishra after taking cognisance of a chargesheet filed against him and Singh.

The judge directed the accused not to leave the country without prior permission of the court and not to threaten or influence the witnesses of the case, “or even make an attempt to do so in any manner whatsoever”.

“The applicant shall not tamper with the evidence of this case and shall not even make an attempt to do so in any manner whatsoever. The applicant shall join ongoing investigation of the case and shall also cooperate in investigation in case. The applicant shall not indulge in any criminal activities and shall not commit similar offences again,” the judge said. In his application, the accused had claimed that since he was not arrested during the investigation by the ED, no purpose would be served by sending him to jail after the charge sheet had already been filed by the central probe agency after completion of the probe.

The court on December 19 took cognizance of the supplementary prosecution complaint (ED’s equivalent to a chargesheet) filed against Singh and Mishra. On October 4, Singh was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate.

The ED earlier told the court that Singh was part of the conspiracy to collect kickbacks from liquor groups in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22.

#Manish Sisodia