NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia’s petitions seeking bail in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the Delhi excise policy ‘scam’ even as it wondered how long it will take to complete the trial in the case.
“Where is the light at the end of the tunnel and how long will it take?” a Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju who accused Sisodia of delaying the trial by filing multiple applications seeking supply of documents.
The Bench pointed out that none of his applications had been rejected for being vexatious and that the probe agencies supplied documents only after Sisodia moved applications. On behalf of the former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi contended that Sisodia has already undergone half of the minimum sentence and there was no evidence against him. “There is no statement about Manish Sisodia or WhatsApp chat with him. No evidence about hawala operators with him, no evidence of WhatsApp chat with Sisodia at all,” Singhvi submitted.
The CBI and ED had on Monday opposed Sisodia’s bail pleas before the SC in corruption and money laundering cases linked to the excise policy scam, saying, documents showed his neck-deep involvement in the scam.
“Sisodia is not an innocent person picked up for political reasons… He is neck deep in the scam,” the ASG had said on behalf of the probe agencies. Sisodia’s petition for revival of his bail pleas was “not maintainable” and that he should go to the trial court for bail, he had said.
On Tuesday, Raju said Sisodia could tamper with evidence and influence important witnesses, if released on bail. The matter relates to alleged corruption and money laundering in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Government’s excise policy for 2021-22 which now stands scrapped.
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.