New Delhi, 6 April

A court here on Saturday extended the judicial custody of Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia till 18 April in a money laundering case related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

Special Judge Kaveri Baweja extended Sisodia's judicial custody after he was produced before the court on the expiry of the judicial custody granted earlier. His party colleague Sanjay Singh, a co-accused who was recently granted bail by the Supreme Court in the case, also appeared before the court for the proceedings.

The CBI as well as the ED have alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the Delhi Excise Policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, licence fee was waived or reduced and licences were extended without the competent authority's approval.

The beneficiaries allegedly diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, the probe agencies have alleged. Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 26 February, 2023, for his alleged role in the "scam". The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Sisodia in a money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on 9 March, 2023. Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet on 28 February, 2023.