Liquor policy case: SC seeks CBI, ED response by July 29 on Manish Sisodia's bail plea

synopsis

Manish Sisodia

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (July 16) sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the bail plea submitted by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia. This development is in connection with the money laundering charges against him related to the Delhi excise policy. A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, Sanjay Karol, and KV Viswanathan issued a notice to the ED and scheduled the case for a hearing on July 29. The ED has been instructed to file its response by that date.

During the proceedings, Advocate Vivek Jain, representing Sisodia, highlighted the slow progress of the trial. Jain argued that Sisodia has been in jail for 16 months and the trial is progressing at the same slow pace it was in October 2023. The Court acknowledged this by ordering, "Issue notice returnable on July 29. We will have this on Monday after 2 weeks."

The AAP leader has been in custody since February 26, 2023, due to his involvement in the Delhi excise policy case, which is under investigation by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED. The case alleges that Delhi government officials manipulated the excise policy to benefit certain liquor vendors in exchange for bribes, which were then allegedly used to fund the AAP's election campaign in Goa.

Sisodia filed multiple bail applications without success. In May, the Delhi High Court upheld a trial court's decision to reject one of his bail pleas in both the ED and CBI cases. In June, the Supreme Court also refused to grant him bail in the money laundering case, after the ED stated it would file a chargesheet by July 3. The Court mentioned that Sisodia could revive his bail plea after the chargesheet was filed.

Following the ED's filing of the chargesheet, Sisodia submitted the current bail plea. His initial bail applications were rejected in 2023, with his bail plea in the CBI case being denied by a trial court on March 31, 2023. Additionally, on April 28, 2023, the trial court also rejected his bail application in the ED case.