The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Court reserves order on Sisodia’s bail pleas
A DELHI court Saturday reserved orders on bail pleas filed by former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in separate cases lodged by the CBI and the ED, related to the Delhi excise policy, till the end of this month.
Special Judge for the CBI and ED, Kaveri Baweja, reserved the order for April 30 after hearing arguments from the counsel of both central investigation agencies as well as Sisodia.
The senior AAP leader, who was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, and later in an alleged money laundering case by the ED, had also moved interim bail pleas in both cases to campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.
Sisodia’s counsel, in submissions to the court Saturday, however, said the plea has become infructuous as the regular bail plea is being reserved.
Both CBI and ED alleged the formulation of the now-scrapped excise policy was rife with irregularities — undue favours extended to licence holders, licence fees waived or reduced, and licences extended without the competent authority’s approval among other allegations.
Sisodia had moved court for bail on January 27 this year. On March 13, the Supreme Court had dismissed his curative petition challenging the apex court’s order denying him bail in the excise policy case in October 2023.
The SC had, on October 30, 2023, dismissed Sisodia’s bail plea, saying there is “material and evidence” that “tentatively” supports one of the charges against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
However, the judgment had, in view of the assurance given on behalf of the prosecution that it would conclude the trial “by taking appropriate steps within next 6-8 months”, given liberty to Sisodia to move a fresh bail plea “in case of change in circumstances, or in case the trial is protracted and proceeds at a snail’s pace in next three months ”.“if any application for bail is filed in above circumstances, (it) would be considered by the trial court on merits without being influenced by the dismissal of the earlier bail application, including the present judgment,” the SC had noted.