Delhi high court seeks CBI’s response to Manish Sisodia’s interim bail plea

Senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, representing Sisodia, told the court the AAP leader’s wife has been hospitalised

The Delhi high court on Wednesday sought the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s response to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia’s plea for interim bail in view of his wife’s illness. Sisodia’s regular bail application is pending before the court and coming up for a hearing on Thursday.

AAP leader Manish Sisodia. (PTI)

Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma issued a notice to the CBI asking it to file the reply on the interim bail plea while posting the matter for hearing on Thursday.

Senior advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, representing Sisodia, told the court the AAP leader’s wife has been hospitalised. He submitted a report about the illness from the doctor treating Sisodia’s wife for 20 years.

Justice Sharma asked him to approach the trial court for an opinion. He added he is hearing the regular bail application and would decide the same on merits. Justice Sharma said deciding the interim bail plea would not be feasible.

Aggarwal said since the regular bail petition is pending in the high court, the interim bail application has also been filed there. He added going to the trial court can further delay the process. Aggarwal sought at least the CBI’s reply.

Earlier while seeking regular bail, Sisodia said he was neither a flight risk nor the CBI found anything incriminating against him in its probe into the alleged irregularities related to the now-scrapped 2021-21 Delhi excise policy.

The CBI arrested Sisodia in February before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) took him into custody over money laundering charges. Last week, the trial court rejected his bail plea in the ED case.