Delhi Excise Policy case: No criminality in sharing expert committee note, argues Sisodia's Counsel

New Delhi [India], January 16 (ANI): The Rouse Avenue court on Friday heard the arguements on behalf of former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is accused in the Delhi Excise policy CBI case. It is argued on his behalf that no case was made out against Sisodia, as he shared the expert committee's note seeking suggestions on the new Excise policy. It was also submitted that the old sellers' lobby was against the new policy.
The court is scheduled to hear arguements on charges against former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who is also an accused in the Delhi Excise policy case.
Special CBI Judge Jitendra Singh on Friday heard the concluding arguements advanced by advocate Vivek Jain on behalf of Manish Sisodia. Earlier, Senior Advocate Rebecca John argued on behalf of Sisodia.
Senior advocate Rebecca John argued that of 4600 emails containing suggestions, only 6 were written by interns of Zakir Khan, who was the chairman of the Delhi Minority Commission. These 6 emails do not constitute a basis for formulating policy.
It was submitted that Sisodia sent the expert committee report to Zakir Khan. Ask him to give suggestions. There is no criminality in it. This report has already been uploaded to the excise department's website.
During her submissions, Senior Counsel also referred to the Statement of C Arvind, the Ravi Dhawan report, the note of then excise commissioner Rahul Singh, and the statement of then excise commissioner Sanjay Goyal.
It was submitted that Rahul Singh's note contained the suggestion from former CJI Ranjan Gogoi, KG Balakrishnan, and senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi.
There was an email from the association of previous retailers. They also wanted the old Excise policy to be in place, Rebecca John submitted.
She further argued that Manish Sisodia asked Rahul Singh to file a new cabinet note containing suggestions from the public.
It was submitted that a legal note was given to interested parties. It was not sent to the official email ID of the excise department. Note suggested to maintain the status quo of the previous policy.
" Lobbies were intended to keep the previous policy in force," Rebecca John contended.
She argued that CBI talks about the South lobby. CBI is silent on the lobbies wanted to retain the old policy. They were taking the 60-70 profit. It was argued that there is no evidence to show that Vijay Nair met with Sisodia regarding the meeting. She also addressed the allegations that Nair lobbied for the South Lobby.
She submitted that Nair used to live in the government residence of Kailash Gehlot. His house was in an area where the same mobile tower was functional.
She also argued against the allegations that a 36-page printout was shared. No physical recovery, no clue who printed it.
In her arguements, Rebecca John also referred to Butchi Babu's WhatsApp chats. He used to send WhatsApp messages to himself on another phone from his phone, she added.
She also argued about the allegations that Sisodia destroyed his mobile. She said the prosecution said there were 3 phones, one of which was recovered.
It is alleged that accsued sent a WhatsApp message to other accused persons. But no trail of any message sent by Sisodia has been recovered from the other Accused persons either.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has already argued on the point of framing charges. The CBI court is hearing arguements on the charge on day to day basis. (ANI)