Delay In Trial Prima Facie Not Attributable To Manish Sisodia: Supreme Court In Delhi Liquor Policy Case

While hearing former Delhi Deputy CM and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia's bail plea in connection with the Delhi Liquor Policy case, the Supreme Court today observed that the delay in commencement of trial was prima facie not attributable to Sisodia.

The matter was before a vacation bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Sandeep Mehta, which disposed of two special leave petitions filed by Sisodia challenging the Delhi High Court order of May 21, whereby his bail plea in the money laundering and corruption cases related to the alleged liquor policy scam was rejected.

The top Court passed the order pursuant to an undertaking given by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the prosecuting agencies would file the final chargesheeet/complaint in the coming 3-4 weeks. Although the bail pleas were disposed of, the bench reserved liberty for Sisodia to be able to raise his pleas after the chargesheet/complaint were filed.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi (for Sisodia) was seen trying to persuade the court to issue notice in the matter, considering that Sisodia has already suffered 15 months of pre-trial incarceration. Pointing to the 2023 Supreme Court judgment dismissing the leader's former bail plea, the senior counsel pled that the bench's intention at the time was to ensure that Sisodia was not subjected to prolonged incarceration (before trial).

To buttress his submission, Singhvi recalled the remarks made by Justice Sanjiv Khanna at the time with respect to fast-tracking of the trial: "We are dismissing the application for bail, but we have made one pointed observation which is that they have assured that the trial will be concluded within six to eight months. So within three months, if the trial proceeds sloppily or slowly, he'll be entitled to file an application for bail".

On Singhvi raising the issue of prosecution agencies themselves delaying trial in the case by filing supplementary chargesheets until the week before last week, and making arrests (of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and BRS Leader K Kavitha) in the case as recently as March-April 2024, SG Mehta countered that Sisodia kept filing applications for one thing or another and delayed framing of charges, such as regarding non-supply of digital devices/documents even though the same had been supplied.

Hearing the SG, Singhvi replied that filing applications against defective supply of documents was Sisodia's fundamental right. He further pointed out that most of the applications referred to were allowed by the Special Court and Sisodia's wife was suffering from various ailments.

After hearing Singhvi, Justice Kumar posed to SG Mehta,

"Undisputedly, prima facie, the submissions made by Dr Singhvi show that there is no delay attributable to the petitioner. So, in those circumstances, the succor given by this court in paragraph 29, would it not inure to the benefit of the petitioner?"

Justice Mehta, on the other hand, noted that delay in such cases may not be attributable to either side, given the sheer volume of documents/evidence. The judge pondered as to how then, as delay is inevitable, matters pertaining to liberty are to be dealt with.

Subsequently, in response to a specific query by the bench, SG Mehta obtained instructions on whether the investigation in the cases was complete, qua all accused and all evidence. Upon instructions, it was stated that the agencies will file the final chargesheet/complaint in the coming 3-4 weeks. Accordingly, the order was passed.

Although SG Mehta urged the court to also pass a direction for the trial court to proceed on day-to-day basis, the same was declined. "That is a ceremonial or just a make-believe prayer...truly, unless the result of investigation is filed, the trial will not [commence]...It's just a make-believe prayer, we would say, with due respect to the submission", Justice Mehta commented.

Case Title: Manish Sisodia v. Directorate of Enforcement, SLP(Crl) No. 7795/2024 (and connected matter)