Supreme Court dismisses Manish Sisodia's bail pleas in liquor policy case

In a setback to former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia, the Supreme Court today dismissed his bail pleas in corruption and money-laundering cases related to the alleged scam in the formulation and roll-out of the national capital's now-scrapped excise policy.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti, which had reserved its verdict on October 17 on two separate bail applications filed by Sisodia, pronounced the verdict.

The bench observed that one aspect regarding the transfer of Rs 338 crore “is tentatively established”, adding, “We have therefore dismissed the applications for bail.”

The court, however, stated that the prosecution has assured that the trial will be concluded within six to eight months. “So within three months, if the trial proceeds sloppily or slowly, he [Sisodia] will be entitled to file an application for bail."

With Sisodia’s bail pleas denied, sources in the Enforcement Directorate told India Today ED that the order was an indication that the top court had accepted the probe agency’s arguments and evidence against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader.

During the hearing on October 17, the Supreme Court told the ED that if a bribe that was allegedly paid for tweaking the Delhi excise policy is not part of the predicate offence, it would be difficult to prove the money-laundering case against Sisodia.

It had told the federal agency that it cannot go on assumptions of bribe being paid and whatever protection is there under law, needs to be granted.

Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 for his alleged role in the "scam". The AAP leader has been in custody since then.

The ED arrested Sisodia in a money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9 after questioning him in the Tihar jail.

The probe agencies have alleged that the new policy resulted in cartelisation and those ineligible for liquor licences were favoured for monetary benefits.

However, the Delhi government and Sisodia have denied any wrongdoing and said the new policy would have led to an increase in revenue share.