Excise Policy case: Delhi HC refuses to grant bail to Manish Sisodia bail

New Delhi [India], May 21 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the bail petitions moved by Manish Sisodia, Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi in liquor policy cases.
Sisodia had sought bail in cases being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Sisodia has been in custody since February 26, 2023, after arrest by the CBI. Thereafter, he was arrested by the ED.
The bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma pronounced the order and said the case at hand is of grave misuse of power and aim was to create policy that is beneficial to some and kickbacks could come in.
Meanwhile the Court had allowed to continue to meet Manish Sisodia to meet his ailing wife under custody once in a week.
Corruption in this case originated with Applicant's desire to design a policy that is beneficial to some individuals.
Court also observed that Applicant Manish Sisodia had invovled himself in the destruction of evidence and hence the possibility of tampering of evidence cannot be ruled out. He held 18 portfolios and was also a senior leader of AAP and Deputy CM, hence, he is very powerful.
Prosecution has made out a prima facie case of money laundering.case involves great misuse of power by the applicant Manish Sisodia. This deceptive Act was a calculative move by him. Tempering can't be ruled out if Manish Sisodia is out on bail. Many crucial witnesses in the case are public servants and possibility of influencing can't be ruled out, said the court.
Earlier, appearing of Manish Sisodia, Senior Advocates Mohit Mathur and Dayan Krishnan referred Supreme Judgement stating that accused can't be incarcerated prolonged and the right to speedy Trial is the fundamental right. Lawyers also raised questions over ED's conduct in delaying the trial.
On April 30, the Rouse Avenue Court had dismissed the bail petitions of Sisodia for the second time in the case and said, "...This court is not inclined to admit the Applicant to Bail, either regular or interim, at this stage. The application under consideration is accordingly dismissed,"
Trial Court judge said, "It is apparent that the Applicant individually, and along with different accused have been filing one or the other application/making oral submissions frequently, some of them frivolous, that too on a piecemeal basis, apparently as a concerted effort for accomplishing the shared purpose of causing delay in the matter."
The court also added that the period of incarceration of Benoy Babu and that of the applicant (Manish Sisodia) cannot be equated, particularly in view of the findings in the preceding paragraphs of this order that the applicant himself has attributed to the slow pace of the proceedings of the case.
Sisodia has been in custody since February 26, 2023, after arrest by the CBI. Thereafter, he was arrested by the ED. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BRS Leader K Kavitha were also arrested in the excise policy case.
The ED and the CBI had alleged that irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy, undue favours were extended to licence holders, the licence fee was waived or reduced and the L-1 licence was extended without the competent authority's approval.
The beneficiaries diverted "illegal" gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their books of account to evade detection, the probe agencies said.
As per the allegations, the excise department had decided to refund the earnest money deposit of about Rs 30 crore to a successful tenderer against the set rules.
Even though there was no enabling provision, a waiver on tendered licence fees was allowed from December 28, 2021, to January 27, 2022, due to COVID-19, the probe agency said and there was an alleged loss of Rs 144.36 crore to the exchequer.