Delhi High Court dismisses Manish Sisodia’s bail pleas in money-laundering and corruption cases

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, May 21

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed bail pleas of senior AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in corruption and money-laundering cases lodged by the CBI and the ED in connection with the excise policy case.

Noting that the case exemplified grave abuse of public authority and breach of public trust by Sisodia, Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma castigated him for framing a policy to enrich private persons.

The material collected by the probe agencies showed that Sisodia subverted the process of making the excise policy by fabricating public feedbacks to suit his goal, the high court said.

Sisodia's conduct amounted to "great betrayal of democratic principles", Justice Sharma said, adding that he sought to manipulate the policy formulation and deviated from the report of an expert committee constituted by him.

Noting that it was not the right stage to grant bail, a Delhi special court had on April 30 dismissed Sisodia's bail pleas in corruption and money-laundering cases for alleged irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the excise policy of 2021-22.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023 for his alleged role in the 'scam' and he resigned from the Delhi cabinet two days later. The ED arrested him in a money-laundering case related to the scam on March 9, 2023 after questioning him in Tihar Jail.

The Delhi government had implemented the new excise policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption. The profit margin of wholesalers was increased from 5 per cent to 12 per cent under the new policy, the probe agencies alleged.

The new policy resulted in cartelisation and those ineligible for liquor licences were favoured for monetary benefits, the agencies alleged. However, Sisodia denied any wrongdoing and claimed the new policy would have led to an increase in the city government's revenue.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had on December 14, 2023 dismissed Sisodia’s pleas seeking review of its October 30, 2023 verdict dismissing his bail petitions in corruption and money-laundering cases related to the scam.

The top court had denied him bail, saying the allegations by the probe agencies that 'windfall gains' of Rs 338 crore were made by a few wholesale distributors was 'tentatively supported' by evidence.

Meanwhile, a Delhi special court on Tuesday extended Sisodia's judicial custody till May 31.

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#Central Bureau of Investigation CBI #Manish Sisodia