The bail petition of Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will be taken up on Friday by Supreme Court after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader claimed that his wife’s health condition is precarious.
The former Sisodia is in jail in connection with separate probes being conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED in connection with alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and justice PS Narasimha informed Sisodia that his petition filed last week had already been listed by the Registry for July 17. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi who appeared for the former Delhi deputy CM requested to advance the hearing to Friday citing his wife’s ill-health.
“The petitioner’s wife is not well. The lady for the second time has been hospitalised. I am seeking an urgent hearing on July 14.”
The bench allowed the request and advanced the hearing date.
Sisodia had approached the top court against two separate orders passed by the Delhi high court, rejecting bail. On July 3, the HC refused to release him on bail in the ED case while by an earlier order of May 30, he was denied bail in the CBI case.
In his petition filed through advocate Vivek Jain, Sisodia told the top court that the chargesheet has already been filed by the CBI where the charges against him are punishable with less than seven years imprisonment.
He pointed out that other co-accused were already out on bail.Even in the ED case, Sisodia stated that the probe conducted so far has not traced any proceeds of the alleged crime to him, and in the absence of any evidence to link him with alleged money laundering, he deserves to be granted bail.
In its July 3 order, the Delhi high court bench of justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said that the case against Sisodia did not fulfill the “triple test” for granting bail as also the twin bail conditions laid under Section 45 of the prevention of money laundering act (PMLA).
The triple test referred to by the high court allows an accused to be released on bail if he fulfills three parameters – accused is not a flight risk, does not influence witnesses and won’t tamper with the evidence.
In addition, for offences under PMLA, bail under Section 45 can be granted if the Court forms a prima facie view that the accused is not guilty of the offense and that he is not likely to commit any offence while on bail.
Prior to the HC order, even the trial judge had refused him bail on April 28 by a detailed order.
The trial court had observed that based on the evidence collected so far, it can be clearly inferred that the applicant (Sisodia) was related to the generation of proceeds of crime of around Rs 100 crore in the form of kickbacks which were paid by the “South lobby” to the co-accused Vijay Nair, who is AAP’s communication in-charge.
While declining bail in the CBI case, HC noted that due to the high political positions held by the accused and his position in the party in power in Delhi, the possibility of influencing the witnesses could not be ruled out.
The CBI had arrested Sisodia on February 26 following an FIR registered in August 2022 under Indian Penal Code Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 477A (falsification of accounts) and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (illegal gratification) in connection with irregularities in framing and implementation of the excise policy of Delhi for the year 2021-22.Of these offences, Section 477A IPC carries the maximum sentence of seven years.
In the charge sheet, other sections under IPC and PC Act were added.The CBI probe into Delhi’s excise case was ordered on a complaint by the Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena in July where he sought a detailed investigation into rules being tweaked to benefit certain individuals and liquor barons.
There were also suggestions of kickbacks being paid to those in power reaching up to Sisodia, who held the Excise portfolio. It was under him, the 2021-22 excise policy was introduced in November 2021.
The policy earned Delhi government Rs 8,919.59 crore, estimated to be 27 percent higher than the base price bids at which the licences were awarded.
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