Supreme Court to hear Manish Sisodia’s bail plea on October 4

Singhvi told the court that there was urgency in the matter as Sisodia is seeking interim bail due to his wife’s serious health condition.

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the bail plea hearing of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia to October 4 following a joint request by lawyers from both sides. Sisodia is facing a money laundering probe in connection with the alleged Delhi excise policy.

Former Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia at Rouse Avenue court in connection with the Delhi excise policy case on July 19. (PTI File Photo)

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhati agreed to the joint request made by Sisodia’s lawyer and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Singhvi told the court that there was urgency in the matter as Sisodia is seeking interim bail due to his wife’s serious health condition. He has also sought regular bail in separate cases pending in the matters probed by ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with alleged discrepancies in the Delhi excise policy.

Post the adjournment of the matter, Singhvi informed the top court that each time the case is to be listed, an article is published in newspapers about the case in question. The bench replied by saying, “We have not read the newspaper. It does not bother us. We have to get used to it.” Singhvi said he will prepare a chart mapping the sequence of news reports, along with the dates when the case got listed before the court.

The ED and CBI have already filed their responses to Sisodia’s bail plea, opposing his request by filing charts to show the modus operandi involved in the crime and how accused persons benefitted from the changes Sisodia made in the excise policy when he was the minister handling the excise portfolio.

“This is the central government’s most colourful chart ever submitted in any court,” Singhvi said, adding that his client has filed a response to the charts to deny evidence of any proceeds of crime in the matter.

Sisodia had moved the top court challenging two separate orders passed by the Delhi high court on July 4 and May 30 denying him bail in the ED and CBI cases, respectively. He had additionally sought interim bail on account of the prolonged illness of his wife, who suffers from an auto-immune disease for which she has been under treatment since 2000.

In his petition filed through advocate Vivek Jain, the senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader had produced latest medical reports of July 29 suggesting that his wife’s condition was deteriorating as she was gradually experiencing loss of vision, restricted walking condition and diminishing bowel movement. As there was nobody else in the family to take care of her, Sisodia requested the court on humanitarian grounds to release him on bail for at least two weeks.

The apex court had last month indicated that order on interim bail can wait as it noted his wife’s condition to be stable at present. The court agreed to first hear his regular bail plea, which required an elaborate hearing, and this is why the matter has been kept for October 4.

The CBI had arrested Sisodia on February 26 pursuant to an FIR registered in August 2022 under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code,read with Section 477A (falsification of accounts), and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (illegal gratification) over alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the Delhi excise policy for 2021-22. It was under Sisodia that the then excise policy was introduced in November 2021.

In his petition, Sisodia claimed that the CBI has already filed the charge sheet, and the charges against him are punishable with less than 7 years imprisonment with other co-accused already on bail. In the ED case, the former Delhi deputy CM said that the probe conducted so far has not traced any proceeds of crime to him, and in the absence of any evidence to link him with alleged money laundering, he deserves to be granted bail.

In April, the trial court refused bail as, based on the evidence collected by investigating agencies, the court inferred that Sisodia was related to the generation of proceeds of crime of around ₹100 crores in the form of kickbacks, which were paid by the ‘South lobby’ to co-accused Vijay Nair, who is Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) communication in-charge.