The Supreme Court on Friday (July 14) agreed to hear on July 28 a plea by former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is seeking interim bail to meet his wife who is under medical care.
“For his medical reasons, we will hear,” a Bench headed by Justice Sanjeev Khanna remarked.
Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi said the AAP leader’s wife was suffering from a “progressive disease”.
The Bench said it was familiar with the nature of the illness, and would consider the plea for interim relief.
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 Enforcement Directorate have both opposed the pleas.
“The allegation was that the policy decision was for extraneous consideration”, Justice Khanna observed orally.
Mr. Singhvi said there was no material to support the allegations of wrongdoing.
The Delhi High Court had 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 was in power in the national capital. The witnesses in the case were largely public servants. As Deputy CM, 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.
