NEW DELHI: Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Monday granted three days interim bail--from February 13 to 15-- to former deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to attend his niece's wedding in Lucknow.
Sisodia has moved a plea before the Special Judge M.K. Nagpal, seeking permission to attend the wedding happening on February 14 in Uttar Pradesh, saying that he was the only male member of the family who can perform rituals related to the marriage ceremony.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and minister was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 last year, for his alleged role in the corruption case. On February 28, Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet.
During the hearing, the Special Judge asked Sisodia's counsel about the security arrangements to go along with the AAP leader.
To this, senior advocate Mohit Mathur, appearing on behalf of Sisodia, said the security will be inappropriate on the occasion.
"Who will give me security in a different state....I (Sisodia) don't want to humiliate my family with cops hovering around me," he argued.
The counsel said that his client would not be provided with security in a different state in the first place.
While the CBI strongly opposed the bail plea saying that the accused was highly influential and could tamper with evidence, the ED took issue with the time period of five days stating that one day was enough to attend the wedding.
Last week, the court had permitted Manish Sisodia to visit his wife Seema Sisodia, who is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, once a week while in custody.
Prior to that, he was granted custody parole to meet his ailing wife during Diwali last November.
Earlier, multiple bail pleas by Sisodia had been dismissed by the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.
Denying bail to Sisodia, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti of the apex court had took note of the prosecution’s assurance that the trial would be concluded in six to eight months, saying if it goes at “snail’s pace”, Sisodia may approach the top court again.