Three high-profile arrests have been made so far in the case — Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and AAP’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair.
Two cases have been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED for alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22.
Prominent AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia have been arrested.
Sisodia was denied bail by the Supreme Court on Oct 30, 2023.
Sisodia was first arrested by the CBI in February and by the ED in March. In the ED’s chargesheet, Sisodia was named a “key conspirator”.
Supreme Court dismissed his bail plea in the same case. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti said the prosecution had assured that the trial in the case would be over within six to eight months and added that Sisodia would be entitled to file a fresh bail plea in three months if the trial proceeds sloppily or slowly.
Sanjay Singh was arrested earlier this month, with the ED alleging that “he exploited and gained illegal money/kickbacks, which is proceeds of crime generated from the liquor policy (2021-22) scam… (he) has been part of the conspiracy of collecting kickbacks from liquor groups… (he) has a close relationship with Dinesh Arora since 2017 as revealed by (the latter) as well as from his call records”.
Another AAP leader Nair was arrested last September and he was accused of being a middleman between the ‘South Group’ which allegedly gave Rs 100 crore as kickbacks to enter the liquor retail segment in the Capital, and the AAP.
He is also accused of laundering money received as kickbacks during AAP’s Goa Assembly poll campaign.
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| Blogger |
Over ambitions and sheer opportunism:
Kejriwal Govt. – A directionless dream run?
Political watchers are not surprised. While some say, more such things could come, others hope it would have been if better Kejriwal concentrated on delivery mechanism.
He should have promised less and deliver more. He should have focused on governance.
Observers also say the mythical believe that Aam Admi phenomenon is for the first time in the country is incorrect. The states like Maharashtra and Assam have experienced the same.
In the backyards of northeast, they say, people of Assam had reposed such ‘faith’ in Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in 1980s when former students rode the popularity wave close on the heels of the famous Assam Accord signed by the then Rajiv Gandhi government in 1985.
In retrospect AGP was a result of a six-year-long Assam agitation led by AASU against illegal infiltration of foreigners from Bangladesh. In the case of Delhi, AAP is a part of culmination of anti-corruption crusade. In both the cases, the expectations from the neo-leaders are (or were) frightening.
Like Arvind Kejriwal and his refreshing ideas, in Assam, it was a soft-spoken Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (and then also a bachelor) who took over the reins of the state as the country’s ‘youngest chief minister’.
But in Assam, the AGP failed after there was huge corruption over cushy rooms and air conditioners.
Therefore, AAP should have learned something from the AGP experience.
Having said these, we now come to real issues, many say, the Kejriwal regime forgot many things.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley had raised the bogey of some match-fixing between AAP and Congress. “The AAP is trying to alter the corruption agenda. There is no reference to corruption allegations which can embarrass the Congress.
The CWG scam, the 2G spectrum allocation, Coal block allocation or corruption of the Sheila Dikshit government are not mentioned by it. It is deflecting the attention to petty corruption”, he had said.
But AAP forgot !!
In 2023, AAP and Congress are alliance partners. This by itself is farewell to principles.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur took a jibe at AAP and alleged that the party has been involved in "corruption" in Delhi and Punjab.
"Those who used to give certificates of honesty, his ministers went to jail one after the other and did not even get bail. For the last year, Arvind Kejriwal has been giving certificates for honesty to Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain and Sanjay Singh. The truth is that ever since he came to power, their leaders have been involved in corruption," he told reporters.
"AAP has done corruption in Delhi and Punjab. Today, the situation is such that it is unknown whether the number of their ministers in jail is more or outside," he said
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