The Delhi High Court will hear on Friday, a bail petition filed by senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia, who was arrested last year in connection with irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2020-21.
The petitioner sought bail in the two cases registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for his alleged involvement in the Delhi liquor policy scam case.
Sisodia’s plea was mentioned for urgent hearing today but the High Court listed it for hearing on May 3.
Earlier on April 30, the Rouse Avenue court of Delhi had dismissed his bail plea in both the cases leading to the present plea before the High Court.
Special Judge (PC Act) Kaveri Baweja of the Rouse Avenue Court noted that there was a concerted effort by the former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and other co-accused to delay the trial in the liquor policy case.
The court observed that Sisodia and the other accused have been filing one or the other application/making oral submissions frequently, some of them frivolous, that too on a piecemeal basis.
The submissions were apparently a concerted effort to accomplish the shared purpose of causing a delay in the matter, it added.
The court further rejected Sisodia’s submissions that he should be released on bail because of the poor health condition of his wife.
The trial court noted that the petitioner had mentioned in his application that there was nobody in the family except him to support his wife. However, this was factually incorrect as the applicant has a son who can take care of his mother.
Judge Baweja said that even otherwise, from the medical record of the applicant’s wife, as annexed with the application under consideration, it appeared that she has been suffering from the said ailment for a long time and has also been receiving requisite medical treatment and care for the same.
The former Deputy Chief Minister was first arrested by CBI and ED on February 26 and March 9 last year, respectively.
In the FIR lodged by the CBI, Sisodia and others have been accused of being instrumental in recommending and taking decisions regarding the 2021-22 excise policy, without the approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favours to the licensee post tender.
Furthermore, the central agency has also asserted that the AAP leader was arrested because he gave evasive replies and denied cooperating with the investigation, despite being confronted with evidence.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the excise policy was implemented as part of a conspiracy to give wholesale business profit of 12 percent to certain private companies, although such a stipulation was not mentioned in the minutes of meetings of Group of Ministers (GoM).
The ED has also claimed that there was a conspiracy that was coordinated by Vijay Nair and other individuals along with South Group to provide extraordinary profit margins to wholesalers. The investigation agency said that Nair was acting on behalf of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s bail applications in both cases were denied by Special Judge MK Nagpal (now transferred) on March 31 and April 28 last year. Later, the Delhi High Court denied bail to Sisodia in both cases, after which he moved the Supreme Court challenging both these verdicts.
The Supreme Court on October 30, 2023 dismissed his bail petition.