AAP leader Manish Sisodia sought early hearing of his two curative petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the 2023 verdict of the court denying him bail in the corruption and money laundering cases related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
A bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra was informed by Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Manish Sisodia, that a trial court has said it will not hear the bail plea till the curative is decided. The bench asked the Senior Advocate to send an email and that they will look at it.
Earlier, a Delhi court had deferred hearing on Manish Sisodia’s bail plea after noting that an application related to the case was pending before the Supreme Court. The top court on December 14, 2023 has dismissed Manish Sisodia’s pleas seeking review of its October 30 verdict dismissing his bail petitions in the corruption and money laundering cases related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
The Supreme Court had denied him bail, mentioning that the allegations by the investigation agencies that windfall gains of Rs 338 crore was made by a few wholesale distributors was tentatively supported by evidence.
Manish Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26, 2023 for his alleged role in the scam. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Manish Sisodia in a money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023 after interrogating him in Tihar Jail. Later, Manish Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 2023.
The AAP led Delhi government had implemented the new excise policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption. As per the nodal agencies, the profit margin of wholesalers was increased from 5 per cent to 12 per cent under the new policy.