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SC reserves verdict on Manish Sisodia’s bail in Delhi excise case
The court asked additional solicitor general SV Raju on the estimated time for trial to complete and the law officer said that the trial is most likely to be over in 9-12 weeks
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved orders on the bail petitions filed by former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in separate cases lodged against him by the Enforcement Directorate (CBI) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Delhi excise case.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti asked additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju on the estimated time for trial to complete as Sisodia has been in custody since February this year. ASG Raju told the court that the trial is “most likely” to be over in 9-12 weeks (roughly three months).
Wondering if the time estimate was realistic, the bench, before reserving orders, told Raju, “There are 294 witnesses involved in the CBI case and over 160 witnesses in ED case, with roughly 50,000 documents to be examined in both the trials.”
ASG Raju said that the court may test his statement after six weeks to know the progress of trial. He submitted to the court that in the present case, bail cannot be granted to Sisodia if the court finds a genuine case against him.
Sisodia is accused of making changes in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy of 2021 to benefit a group of liquor dealers, referred to as the South Group, causing wrongful loss to the exchequer by increasing profit margin under the new regime.
The CBI has already filed chargesheets in connection with the crime registered under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act against the senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader while the ED claimed that ₹100 crore kickback was paid by the beneficiary companies and Sisodia helped them to generate proceeds of crime by raising the profit margin from the existing 5% to 12% under the new policy.
Responding to the allegations, Sisodia’s lawyer, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that even after one year of probe, the ED is relying on “superficial” evidence to deny him bail. Singhvi told the court that the ED could not find any money trail of alleged kickbacks to Sisodia or his family and came up with the allegation that a sum of ₹2.2 crore was paid to a person linked to Sisodia for bringing changes in the policy. This bribe is not part of the predicate offence investigated by the CBI, Singhvi said.
The bench told ASG Raju, “If this is not part of the predicate offence that the bribe is paid and the prosecution under the PC Act is not under that, you (ED) may be in difficulty in pursuing proceedings under the PMLA.”
Raju said, “The FIR is broad enough and even if you find something later, you can intimate it to the agency concerned.” Since this had not been done so far, the court replied, “You have not done that so far and we cannot go on assumptions.”
Singhvi said, “They are completely after me. This is not prosecution but persecution by hook or by crook. After this court put queries on the money trail, the ED examined some angadias (couriers who help in huge cash transfers across states) as late as in August this year. I am on the manner and kind of their investigation. Being a premier investigation agency, it is bound to be transparent.”
It was further pointed out by Singhvi that the law is clear that generation of proceeds of crime can arise only in the predicate offence. This was held by the Supreme Court in the landmark decision upholding PMLA provisions in Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary in July 2022. “Does the ED want the Vijay Madanlal judgment to be reconsidered just because you are after me (Sisodia).” With nearly 500 witnesses and 50,000 documents to be examined in trial, he said there was no possibility of the trial ending soon
The ED has so far arrested two senior AAP leaders in connection with the excise scam. Besides Sisodia, AAP member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Singh has been arrested in connection with the alleged kickbacks after three of the accused in the case turned approvers to support the ED case. On Monday, ASG Raju told the court that the ED is contemplating making the AAP itself an accused in the case under Section 70 of PMLA which deals with offences by a company. Here company includes a firm or an association of persons.
The court had asked Raju whether the political party is sought to be roped into the same offence as against Sisodia and others or a separate offence. However, no statement in this regard was made by ASG on Tuesday.
Sisodia had approached the top court against separate orders passed by the Delhi high court denying him bail. On May 30, bail was denied in the CBI case followed by a similar order on July 3 in the ED case. The HC noted that the allegations are serious, and the petitioner held a powerful position of being the deputy CM.
Sisodia argued that the excise policy was formulated and finalised at different layers involving officers in the government, group of ministers, cabinet, and the then lieutenant governor. He was arrested on February 26 as CBI began its probe into alleged irregularities in the excise policy based on a complaint by the Delhi L-G VK Saxena in July 2022.
