Liquor Scam: Court Denies Bail to Manish Sisodia, Next Target: Arvind Kejriwal
Liquor Scam: Court Denies Bail to Manish Sisodia, Next Target: Arvind Kejriwal
It is alleged that Vijay Nair, a close associate of Kejriwal who was handling the Goa election campaigns, was involved in hawala transactions.
By Rakesh Raman
The Delhi High Court has dismissed the bail application of jailed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia who is allegedly involved in the multi-crore rupees Delhi liquor scandal.
Sisodia was a deputy chief minister in the Delhi Government headed by his partner Arvind Kejriwal who is the chief minister (CM) of Delhi.
In his order of today (July 3), Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said that Sisodia – who is facing corruption and money laundering charges – cannot be granted bail at this stage of the case.
The court also rejected the bail applications of Abhishek Boinpally, Benoy Babu, and Vijay Nair, who are co-accused in the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates serious financial crime cases.
The court observed that some bribe money received from a South lobby in the liquor scam case was transferred through hawala channels by AAP to Goa for election campaigns.
It is alleged that Vijay Nair, a close associate of Kejriwal who was handling the Goa election campaigns, was involved in hawala transactions. According to a Livemint report of July 3, Nair also hired a company named Chariot Productions Media Pvt. Ltd. owned by a co-accused Rajesh Joshi to manage the election-related promotional work.
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Reportedly, Nair was working under instructions from Kejriwal who introduced Nair as his “boy” to handle the dirty work. In order to establish Nair’s credibility among the liquor mafia network, according to an India Today report, Kejriwal also held a FaceTime video call.
While Kejriwal was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in April, it is believed that Kejriwal will soon be arrested in the Delhi liquor scam case or in multiple other corruption cases in which investigations against him are underway.
A senior Delhi Congress leader Ajay Maken has said that Kejriwal will soon be jailed for his involvement in massive corruption. In a tweet posted on June 25, Maken said that like a couple of Kejriwal’s colleagues who are already in jail for their acts of corruption, Kejriwal will also be going to jail.
Multiple complaints have been filed against Kejriwal and his AAP colleagues in different corruption cases. These cases include Delhi liquor scandal, school construction scam, money laundering cases, housing society scam, and misappropriation of huge public money by Kejriwal on his house renovation.
Along with Kejriwal, the other AAP politicians whose names appear in the investigating reports of the CBI and the ED are Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, and Raghav Chadha.
It is expected that an AAP woman politician who loudly spreads lies in the so-called press conferences attended by naive journalists will soon be called for interrogation by the law-enforcement agencies.
Similarly, AAP politicians in Punjab led by CM Bhagwant Mann may be arrested and jailed as Sisodia’s dubious Delhi liquor policy is being implemented in Punjab also. The president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Sukhbir Singh Badal has urged the Punjab Governor to hold a probe into the alleged Rs. 500-crore liquor policy scam committed by the AAP government in the state.
Meanwhile, the Central government of prime minister Narendra Modi has introduced an ordinance to check increasing corruption in the Kejriwal government. Kejriwal is trying to get the support of opposition parties to get this ordinance defeated in the Rajya Sabha.
As the political turmoil is increasing exponentially in Delhi which has become the corruption capital of India, it is expected that the Kejriwal government will soon be dismissed so that people could live in a corruption-free environment.
Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is not functioning according to Constitutional provisions, the Central government can dismiss the state government and take control of the governance. In such a case, the governor appointed by the Central government becomes the exclusive administrative head of the state.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He has also launched the “Power Play: Lok Sabha Election 2024 in India” editorial section to cover the news, events, and other developments related to the 2024 election.
