Sisodia fabricated pre-decided emails to build facade of feedback: CBI to SC in excise policy case

On Monday, meanwhile, an SC bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan adjourned the hearing on Sisodia’s bail plea till August 5 after the Enforcement Directorate, which has filed money laundering charges against him, sought time to file its reply.

In its affidavit, the CBI said: “The conduct of the petitioner during proceedings clearly shows that despite best efforts of the prosecution, the trial is being delayed by concerted efforts of all accused persons by filing related and unrelated applications as stated above… and as such, it is only for this reason that the trial is not seeing the light of the day.”

The affidavit said Sisodia “was holding very high and powerful posts in the Aam Aadmi Party as well as the Government of NCT of Delhi for the last decade. He was controlling around 18 departments under different ministries in the Delhi government. He continues to have great influence over officers/officials who have worked under him during his ministership and is highly influential. There are reasons to believe that if he is released on bail, he may influence witnesses… It is also apprehended that he may tamper or destroy evidence…, more specifically in light of his past conduct.”

The agency said, “he has been instrumental in destruction of a vital file on a cabinet note and his mobile phone on the date, i.e., 22.07.2022, on which the matter was referred to the CBI by the Ministry of Home Affairs”.

The CBI affidavit said an investigation was also conducted into the “role of excise officials of Punjab government, instrumental in closure of distilleries of some manufacturers in Punjab to pressure them to pay 6% commission out of 12% profit margin of their wholesalers in Delhi. One wholesaler, M/s Mahadev Liquors, did not pay the said commission and distilleries of its manufacturers in Punjab were allowed to operate only after the said wholesaler surrendered its wholesale liquor licence in Delhi in May 2021. However, owing to the influence of the AAP and its top leadership, including the petitioner, permission to investigate under Section 17-A (of the) Prevention of Corruption Act against public servants in Punjab ‘was denied’”.

It added, “the denial of the permission to investigate the public servants in Punjab… and ex-post facto given on 14.07.2022, i.e. after the report of the Chief Secretary re the alleged offences, to the decisions taken by petitioner given by the Cabinet show his influence”.

The agency said “the new excise policy was prepared by the petitioner with the pre-conceived idea of extending undue benefits to co-accused persons in lieu of payment of Rs 90-100 crore to AAP by the South Group. In furtherance of the said conspiracy, vital provisions like wholesale model, allotment of retail vends as suggested by the expert committee were deliberately not accepted by the Group of Ministers headed by the petitioner without any deliberation/plausible justification….”

The CBI claimed in furtherance of the conspiracy, Sisodia “fabricated and concocted pre-decided emails to built a facade of feedback” and “also transferred Rahul Singh, the then Excise Commissioner, and later on, in connivance with (co-accused) Vijay Nair, excluded opinions of legal experts and thereafter destroyed electronic evidence”.

It said Sisodia, “with the mala fide intention to manipulate the… process of seeking comments from public/stakeholders” on the policy changes, “got fabricated certain emails through Sh Zakir Khan, Chairperson of Delhi Minorities Commission, which were sent by interns of the Commission on the email ID of excise department, with a copy to the petitioner. This was done to bypass the expert committee report which did not recommend the private wholesale model and the option of retail trade through auctioning of zones. Other features such as reduction of excise and VAT as well as enhancement of licence fee and increase in number of liquor vends were also made a part of, and ultimately incorporated into, the excise policy. These suggestions were handed over by the petitioner to Sh Zakir Khan in a hand-written note with the direction to get multiple emails on the said lines sent to the dedicated email address of the excise department”.

It added, “The mala fide intention of the petitioner is further established by the fact that on 19.01.2021, i.e., before the deadline of 21.01.2021 for receiving opinions/comments of stakeholders, the petitioner obtained copies of some of the aforesaid fabricated emails sent by interns of Delhi Minorities Commission from the excise department through his Secretary C Arvind. The petitioner told Rahul Singh… that many of the comments/opinions, which have also been received on his email ID, have not been included in the summary of the opinions/comments prepared by the excise department and asked him to include them. In this manner, the petitioner dishonestly and fraudulently wanted to prepare grounds through these fabricated public opinions to incorporate provisions in the excise policy as per the nefarious design”.

On destruction of evidence, it said “investigation revealed that during the period from 01.01.2020 to 19.08.2022, the petitioner used three mobile handsets. The last handset used by him was seized on 19.08.2022 during searches conducted by CBI in the case. This handset has been used by the petitioner since 22.07.2022, the date on which the instant matter was referred by the MHA for CBI enquiry. The two handsets used prior to 22.07.2022 have been admittedly destroyed by the petitioner…”

The agency said the nature and gravity of the offence is also a parameter for deciding bail.

“Such nature and gravity further magnifies for economic offences which connote a class apart and have the tendency of affecting the economic system to the detriment of the country. In such cases, public interest must take precedence over individual liberties, more specifically when the allegations are prima facie made out and there is a clear case of not only destruction of critical evidence, but also a situation of misuse of power to influence people connected to the case and derail investigation. Further investigation of the case is at the final stage,” the affidavit said.