Excise 'scam' Delhi court pulls up advocates for delaying proceedings

New Delhi, Oct 8 (PTI) A Delhi court on Tuesday pulled up the advocates appearing for various accused persons in the alleged excise policy-linked money laundering case for "delaying" the proceedings.
     Special Judge Kaveri Baweja took strong objection of the counsels for not telling the court how much time they required to complete the inspection of documents handed over to them by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) along with the chargesheet.
     Some of the counsels, including those for AAP leader and co-accused in the case Sanjay Singh, said they required around 200 days for completing the process.
     During the proceedings, AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjya Singh and other co-accused in the case appeared through video conferencing.
     The judge directed the accused persons' advocates to visit the ED office for inspections of the documents, to which the counsels noted the "unhygienic", "inhabitable" and "unsafe" conditions at the ED office premises due to "monkey menace".
     After their claim, the court sought the CCTV footage of the premises.
     The judge will further hear the matter tomorrow.
     The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was scrapped subsequently.
     Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
     Taking cognisance of an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 17, 2022, the ED filed its money laundering case on August 22, 2022 to probe the alleged irregularities.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)