The Supreme Court on August 9, 2024, granted regular bail to Delhi’s former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in the liquor policy case. The senior AAP leader will walk out of jail after 17 months.
The bail was granted in cases filed by CBI and ED probing the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy. As per reports, noting that the trial against Sisodia hasn’t even begun in these 17 months, the SC noted that Sisodia has been deprived of his right to a speedy trial.
BIG BREAKING: Supreme Court GRANTS BAIL to former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in both the CBI and ED cases related to the Delhi Excise Policy case. Court says Sisodia has suffered a long incarceration of 17 months and trial hasn’t even begun. SC says "he has been deprived of his… pic.twitter.com/sVzJg7wQ4T
— Law Today (@LawTodayLive) August 9, 2024
A bench of justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanath have ordered Sisodia to furnish a bail bond of Rs 10 lakhs with 2 surities, surrender his passport and report twice a week (on Mondays and Thursdays) before the concerned investigating officer in the case. He has also been asked to not to make any attempts to influence witnesses and tamper with evidence.
As per reports, the ED had requested the court to restrict Sisodia from visiting the Delhi Secretariat and the CM’s office, as Kejriwal was asked to before his conditional bail for campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections.
However, the SC refused to grant the request. The CBI and ED’s argument that Sisodia’s bail application in the SC was not maintainable and that he should approach the trial court for the same was also dismissed by the apex court.
On October 30, 2023, the SC had rejected Sisodia’s bail plea but had kept a window open in its order, saying that he can revive his bail plea if the trial fails to make any significant progress in the next 6-8 months.
On May 21, Sisodia’s bail plea on the grounds of delay was rejected by the Delhi High Court.
The Delhi Excise Policy case
Sisodia was arrested by the ED in February last year in connection to the Delhi liquor policy case.
The liquor policy for 2021-22 was put into effect by the Delhi administration on 17th November 2021, however, it was cancelled at the end of September 2022 due to accusations of corruption. According to the agencies, the new regulation led to monopolisation and gave economic advantages to people who weren’t eligible for liquor licenses.
On the other hand, Manish Sisodia and the Delhi administration have denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the new policy would have increased the state’s excise revenue.
