Delhi excise case: Manish Sisodia’s curative plea junked by Supreme Court

AAP leader Manish Sisodia challenged the Supreme Court order refusing him bail. This was the last judicial remedy available to Sisodia to challenge the order

The Supreme Court has dismissed the curative petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia, challenging the October 30, 2023 order refusing him bail in separate cases against him in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22.

CBI arrested Manish Sisodia on February 26, 2023 after which he was sent to Tihar Jail. (PTI)

“We have gone through the curative petitions and the connected documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs Ashok Hurra (decided in 2002). The curative petitions are dismissed,” a bench headed by chief justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, in its order passed on Wednesday, said, referring to the Rupa Ashok Hurra case, as per which a curative petition can be filed only in exceptional circumstances to point out any grave error or a fact that escaped the attention of the judges while giving a judgment.

Though the order in the present case was passed on Wednesday, it was uploaded on the court website on Thursday.

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This was the last judicial remedy available to Sisodia to challenge the Supreme Court order denying him bail. Earlier, his review petition was dismissed on December 13 following which he filed the curative plea on January 10. He had even moved an application to allow him an open court hearing.

The Delhi government’s 2021-22 excise policy aimed to revitalise the city’s flagging liquor business, but was scrapped after lieutenant governor VK Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged irregularities in the regime.

CBI arrested Sisodia on February 26, 2023 after the agency said that it had recovered several incriminating evidences in the case, and to conduct a fair investigation, his custody was required. The AAP leader was subsequently sent to Tihar Jail, from where he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on March 9, 2023 in connection with alleged money laundering in the case.