Delhi excise policy case: SC defers hearing on bail pleas of Manish Sisodia to 4 October
PTI. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju agreed to his submission. Singhvi, appearing for Sisodia also alleged that whenever this case or Satyendar Jain's case comes up, there is a newspaper article on the merits of the case.
The bench said it has not read newspapers and added, "We have to get used to that". Earlier on July 14, the top court had sought responses of the CBI and the ED on the interim bail pleas of Sisodia in the cases. Sisodia, who held the excise portfolio among the many that he handled as the deputy chief minister, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 26 February this year for his alleged role in the “scam" and has been in custody since then.
The ED arrested him in a money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9 after questioning him in Tihar Jail. He had resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28. The high court had denied him bail in the CBI case on May 30, saying having been the deputy chief minister and excise minister, he is a "high-profile" person who has the potential to influence the witnesses.
On July 3, the high court had declined him bail in the money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the city government's excise policy, holding that the charges against him are "very serious in nature". According to the two federal investigative agencies, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours were extended to licence holders. The Delhi government implemented the policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
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