The Supreme Court on August 4 said that an application filed by former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for interim bail will be listed on September 4 along with his main plea for regular bail in the liquor excise policy scam case.
Mr. Sisodia had sought a few days of interim bail to take care of his wife who suffers from a progressive illness.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), however, responded that his wife had been suffering from the disease for the past 23 years.
“It has peaked. He needs a few days,” senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, for Mr. Sisodia, urged the court.
A Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna said that the plea for interim relief would be listed along with the petition for regular bail.
‘Establish money trail’
The court, meanwhile, asked Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, for the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), to provide it a “clear picture of how the money trail is established in the case”.
The court said it wanted the agency to provide it with details about the excise policy, the money trail and the allegations regarding tampering of evidence, if any, in the case.
“You have said one or two files have gone missing,” the court addressed Mr. Raju.
The court said the CBI could even go for an independent medical assessment of the illness of Mr. Sisodia’s wife to know the genuineness of his claims.
Mr. Sisodia has been in custody since February 2023 in connection with an alleged scam concerning the liquor excise policy. The Bench is hearing two separate pleas for interim bail. The CBI and the ED have both opposed the pleas.
The Delhi High Court in May refused to grant Mr. Sisodia bail after agreeing with the CBI’s objection that he was an influential person who may use his power to influence witnesses and derail the case.
Similarly, Mr. Sisodia had also failed in July to obtain bail in money-laundering charges arraigned against him in connection with the excise policy case.
The High Court had, while refusing bail, pointed out that Mr. Sisodia’s political party, Aam Aadmi Party, was in power in the national capital. The witnesses in the case were largely public servants. As Deputy Chief Minister, he had held no less than 18 Ministerial portfolios.
He was arrested by the CBI on February 26 for alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 following several rounds of questioning.
In March, the trial court had dismissed his bail plea saying he was prima facie the “architect” of the alleged scam and had played the “most important and vital role” in the criminal conspiracy related to alleged payment of advance kickbacks of ₹90-100 crore meant for him and his colleagues in the Delhi government.
