Delhi Excise Policy Case: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned the hearing of the bail plea filed by former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia to August 5, as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) requested more time to file a response in the excise policy money laundering case.
The apex court has granted the ED until Thursday, August 1, to file their reply. Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) informed the Supreme Court that it has already filed its response, which the court directed to be brought on record.
Sisodia is seeking bail, contending that he has been in custody for 16 months and that the trial against him has not progressed since October last year.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan heard Sisodia’s pleas.
On July 16, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the pleas and requested responses from both the CBI and the ED.
The AAP leader was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, in connection with alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22. The ED arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9 last year.
He resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28 last year.
Sisodia’s plea notes that the law officer representing the probe agencies had informed the top court on June 4 that the charge sheet and the prosecution complaint in the main excise policy case and the linked money laundering case, respectively, would be filed on or before July 3.
A prosecution complaint is the ED’s equivalent of a charge sheet.
On June 4, the apex court had refused to entertain Sisodia’s bail pleas in the two cases.
It had stated that Sisodia could revive his petitions for bail after the ED and the CBI filed the final prosecution complaint and the charge sheet, respectively, in these cases.
The top court added that any subsequent bail application would be considered on its own merits, as observed in its October 30, 2023 order.
Sisodia had previously moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court’s May 21 order dismissing his bail pleas. He had also challenged a trial court’s April 30 order rejecting his bail applications in the two cases.
On October 30 last year, the top court denied him bail in the two cases, citing the accusation of “windfall gains” of ₹338 crore to wholesale liquor dealers as “tentatively supported” by evidence.
While dismissing the regular bail plea, the top court granted Sisodia the liberty to approach the courts for relief if there was a change in circumstances or if the trial became protracted.
