New Delhi, 20 April

A court here on Saturday reserved its order on the bail pleas of AAP leader Manish Sisodia in corruption and money laundering cases, lodged by the CBI and the ED in the alleged Delhi excise policy case.

Special judge for CBI and ED, Kaveri Baweja, reserved the order for April 30 after hearing arguments from the central probe agencies as well as the counsel appearing for Sisodia. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader had also moved interim bail pleas in both cases to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

However, Sisodia's counsel told the court today that the plea has become infructuous as the regular bail plea is being reserved.

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 February 26, 2023, for his alleged role in the "scam". The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested the former deputy chief minister in a money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023. Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 2023.