The Supreme Court on Monday, 30 October, dismissed the bail plea of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia. The former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister was arrested in February 2023 over allegations of money laundering and corruption in connection with the Delhi liquor excise policy case.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti pronounced the order on Monday, as per Bar and Bench.
The court said, "In the analysis, there are certain aspects which are doubtful...with regard to transfer of money, Rs 338 crores, is tentatively established. Therefore, we have rejected the bail."
The apex court further stated to conclude the trial procedure in the case in six to eight months and added that if the trial proceeds at a slower pace, Sisodia can re-apply for bail at a later stage.
The apex court said that it refrained from delving into the legal questions of the case.
A Long-Drawn Battle for Sisodia
On 17 October, the top court told ED that "if a bribe that was allegedly paid for tweaking the Delhi excise policy is not part of the predicate offence, it would be difficult to prove the money-laundering case against Sisodia."
In the first week of October, the same bench had also emphasised that Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) does not criminalise the generation of money.
“You have to establish a chain. The money has to flow from the liquor lobby to the person. We know it is difficult to establish the chain as everything is done undercover… but that is where your competence lies,” Justice Khanna had told ASG Raju.
Earlier this month, Abhishek Manu Singhvi had argued that no money trail directly implicating Sisodia has been unearthed.
He also stated that the new policy, which was a collective institutional decision aimed at breaking the cartelisation prevalent among private manufacturers, had increased revenues and limited the unreasonable and exorbitant profits earned by wholesalers.
Singhvi had stressed on Sisodia's minimal flight risk and his incapacity to influence witnesses, in support of the contention that the criteria for granting bail had been met, according to Live Law.
In July, the Delhi High court had denied bail to Sisodia in the cases against him by CBI, prompting Sisodia to move to the Supreme Court.
The scam involves allegations that Delhi government officials had connived to grant liqor licenses to certain traders in exchange for bribes. The accused officials are alleged to have tweaked the excise policy to benefit certain liqor sellers.
Sisodia has been in custody since 26 February this year. He resigned from the Delhi cabinet on 28 February. He is being probed both, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
(This is a developing story and will be updated with more details.)
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