On Monday, the Supreme Court denied Manish Sisodia’s bail request in relation to cases involving purported irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy case.
“We have dismissed the bail plea of Manish Sisodia,” the court said.
The order was delivered by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti.
However, the court directed to complete the trial in the case in six to eight months. The court also remarked that if the trial in the case proceeds at a slow pace, Sisodia can apply for bail again after three months.
The court noted the details surrounding the transfer of a 338 crore money trail, which is provisionally established, even as it denied bail. In CBI and ED cases pertaining to purported irregularities in the Delhi Excise Policy case, Manish Sisodia had petitioned the Supreme Court for bail. He had appealed the Delhi High Court’s decision to deny his bail request. In both cases, the Delhi High Court had refused him bail. The Supreme Court recently postponed making a decision regarding Manish Sisodia’s bail requests in the cases involving the anomalies in the liquor policy.
In the July 3, 2023, order pertaining to the ED case, the Delhi High Court expressed its opinion that the accused’s high political positions and his affiliation with the ruling party in Delhi make it impossible to completely rule out the possibility of him influencing the witnesses. Sisodia was detained by the CBI in February 2023 on suspicion of committing irregularities in the formulation and execution of Delhi’s recently canceled excise policy. The opposition accused the government of foul play, leading to the policy’s withdrawal. Sisodia is being held by the court right now.
