NEW DELHI: In another major setback to former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia, Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday in its order rejected his second regular bail plea in the money laundering and corruption cases connected to the Delhi liquor policy case.
After the rejection of his bail, AAP said that it would move the Delhi High Court challenging his bail dismissal in the case.
Sisodia is presently in judicial custody in both cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Special judge Kaveri Baweja of Rouse Avenue Courts, which had reserved its verdict on Apeil 20, dismissed Sisodia's bail plea, on the ground that the offemce committed by the accused (Sisodia) did not make out a case to be granted bail.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior lawyer for Sisodia, had submitted to the court that the former Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister, is languishing in jail for even more than a year, as he was arrested on February 26, 2023, for the alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 following several rounds of questioning. "He is innocent in the case. He has no role in the Delhi liquor case," he told the Court.
The prosecutor for the CBI, Pankaj Gupta, opposed the bail plea of Sisodia and said that th3 accused did not satisfy the rigours of grant of bail under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering). He said that Sisodia is a powerful person with a "political clout".
"If he would be enlarged on bail, then he may try to influence witnesses in the ongoing case," he said.
Gupta further contended that Sisodia, who is the main accused in the case, is also not entitled to parity.
Gupta further elaborated to the court that the allegations against the AAP leader showed that a prima facie case is made out regarding the destruction of evidence by him and of misuse of power, which may hamper the investigation.
Sisodia was denied bail by the trial court, Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court in both ED and CBI cases. The Supreme Court had also dismissed Sisodia's review petition, as he sougt bail. His curative petition have also been dismissed. So far, he failed to get any relief from courts in the case.
In March, the trial court had dismissed his bail plea saying he (Manish Sisodia) was prima facie the “architect” of the alleged scam and had played the “most important and vital role” in the criminal conspiracy related to alleged payment of advance kickbacks of nearly Rs 100 crore meant for him and his colleagues in the Delhi government.
The Supreme Court had on December 14 last year, in its order rejected his plea seeking review of its earlier decision of October 30, denying him bail in the Delhi Excise Policy scam case.
