A Delhi court on Wednesday allowed Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia’s close aide, entrepreneur Dinesh Arora, to become an approver in the liquor policy case, reported PTI.

On Wednesday, the court also granted pardon to Arora in the case which is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Arora had moved the application before Special Judge MK Nagpal on November 7. He had told the court that he was ready to make “true disclosure voluntarily” about the case.

“I have also cooperated in the investigation of this case by the CBI and have made two statements before the Investigating Officer in this regard,” he said in his application. “I have also made a confessional statement before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate regarding the facts and events pertaining to the commission of alleged offences.”

On August 17, CBI had booked Sisodia, who is the Delhi deputy chief minister, and 14 other persons on charges of irregularities in the new liquor policy.

Under the new policy, which was implemented in Delhi on November 17, licences of 849 liquor shops were issued to private firms through open bidding. However, on July 30, the Delhi government withdrew the policy after Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena recommended an inquiry into it by the central agency.

On September 1, Delhi reverted to its old liquor policy, under which only state-run stores are allowed to operate. According to the first information report, Arora was accused by the CBI of receiving a bribe of Rs 1 crore from a liquor manufacturer on behalf of Sisodia.

The Bharatiya Janata Party accused Sisodia and others leaders of the AAP of benefiting from the policy in cahoots with private liquor sellers. Meanwhile, the AAP has alleged that the BJP was misusing central agencies to destabilise the Delhi government.