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• Allegation regarding kickback of Rs.100,00,00,000 (rupees one hundred crore only), and a portion of it being used for funding the Aam Aadmi Party12, for its election campaign in Goa, is a concocted story unsupported by any legal and admissible evidence and material. The money trial is unproven and false. • Co-accused Rajesh Joshi and Gautam Malhotra have been granted bail for the offence under the PML Act on the ground that there was no documentary evidence to show that proceeds of crime were used for the election purposes.

• To establish the money trail and payment of bribe/kickback of Rs.100,00,00,000 (rupees one hundred crore only), the DoE has relied upon the statements made by co-accused or approvers. These statements are hearsay and do not in any manner implicate or connect the appellant – Manish Sisodia with the transfer and use of the proceeds of the crime.

(2022) SCC Online 929.

12

For short, “AAP”.

• The statements of co-accused or other witnesses relied upon by the DoE were extracted and forced by a threat of arrest, as in the case of Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Butchi Babu and Manoj Rai. Some of the co-accused like Arun Pillai and Sameer Mahendru have retracted from their statements. • Raghav Magunta, son of a Member of Parliament of the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh, was forced to make the statement dated 27.07.2023, which is contrary to his earlier statement dated 16.09.2022.

161 of the Code. The appellant – Manish Sisodia had not accepted the report because of ulterior reasons.

• A conspiracy was entered viz. the new excise policy to enable supersize profits for wholesale distributors in return for kickbacks and bribes. To start with:

o Public comments were invited to the R.D. Committee Report dated 13.10.2020. Some public comments vide emails were prompted by the appellant – Manish Sisodia to influence the decision making process. The emails18, statement of Zakir Khan19 dated 29.03.2023 recorded under Section 161 of the Code, and screenshots of WhatsApp chats of Kartikey Azad and Zakir Khan establish the motive. Thus, a facade of transparency and openness in policy making was created. o Rahul Singh20 supports the charge. He was asked to prepare a cabinet note in a particular manner with comments and suggestions of the stakeholders and public. The appellant – Manish Sisodia reprimanded Rahul Singh for annexing the opinion of legal experts in the cabinet note.21 C. Arvind’s Emails shared by interns of the Delhi Minorities Commission as public comments to the R.D. Committee Report.
• A liquor group from Hyderabad stayed in Delhi from 16.03.2021 to 18.03.2021. Arun Pillai, Abhishek Boinpally, and Sarath Reddy from Excise Commissioner of NCT of Delhi, who had replaced Rahul Singh.

the liquor group had several meetings with Vijay Nair, who was the middleman, a member of the AAP, and a close confidant of the appellant – Manish Sisodia. He was residing in a government bungalow allotted to a Cabinet Minister, who was a part of GOM.23 The agenda of the meetings were to decide changes in the excise policy, to enable them to earn super-profits in return for kickbacks. o On the evening of 16.03.2021, Abhishek Boinpally and Butchi Babu, who were staying at Hotel Oberoi, travelled to another Oberoi hotel in Civil Lines, where they met Vijay Nair, who was staying in a close proximity. The travel to the Oberoi Hotel in Civil Lines is established by an invoice24, call record details and statement of an employee of the Oberoi.25 o A print/photocopy of a 36 page document was made on 16.03.2021 at Hotel Oberoi, Civil Lines, Delhi.26 o The document/print was taken by Vijay Nair, and handed over to the appellant – Manish Sisodia. The appellant – Manish Sisodia gave ‘the print’ to his secretary C. Arvind. o The altered GoM report dated 18.03.2023 consists of 36 pages, if one excludes the index and the title page. Reference is made Reliance is placed upon statements made by Arun Pillai, Butchi Babu and Dinesh Arora. Reliance is also placed on screenshots found in the phone of Manoj Rai, an employee of Pernod Ricard. On 16.03.2021, Rs. 3,000/- had been billed under the description, “Logistic Charges”. Statement of Ibrahim Magdum dated 03.02.2023, under Section 161 of the Code. On 16.03.2021, Rs. 360/- had been billed under the description, “Print/Photocopy”. to the statement of C. Arvind dated 16.02.2023, under Section 164 of the Code.