Supreme Court Issues Notice To CBI, ED On Manish Sisodia's Bail Pleas In Delhi Liquor Policy Scam Case

The bench was hearing two petitions filed by Sisodia challenging the decisions of the Delhi High Court to deny Sisodia bail in the cases being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED). While CBI is probing the allegations under the Prevention of Corruption Act, ED is handling the money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

"The allegation was that the policy decision was for extraneous consideration", Justice Khanna said as soon as the matter was taken.

Senior Advocate Dr.Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Sisodia, contended that there was absolutely no material to support the allegations. Singhvi also pressed for interim bail to allow Sisodia to meet his wife, who is suffering from illness. The bench initially posted the matter to August 21 to consider the interim bail plea. However, after persuasion by Singhvi for an earlier date, the bench advanced the posting to July 28.

During the hearing, Justice Khanna said that he is aware of the condition of the illness of Sisodia's wife. "We are aware of the disease. It's a progressive disease", he said.

Background

The origin of the controversy is the excise policy framed by the Government of the National Capital of Delhi to boost revenue and reform liquor trade in 2021, which was later withdrawn after allegations of irregularities in implementation were made and Lieutenant-Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the policy. This policy – which sought to completely privatise liquor trade in the national capital – was used to grant undue advantage to private entities at the cost of the public exchequer and smacked of corruption, the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation have claimed. The investigations are currently underway and led to the arrest of, among others, Manish Sisodia – the former deputy chief minister of Delhi and a prominent leader of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Manish Sisodia was first arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a case related to the excise policy on February 26 and later by the Enforcement Directorate on March 9. In the first information report (FIR) registered by the CBI, Sisodia and others have been accused of being instrumental in ‘recommending’ and ‘taking decisions’ regarding the 2021-22 excise policy, “without approval of competent authority with an intention to extend undue favours to the licensee post tender”. The central agency has also claimed that the AAP leader was arrested since he gave evasive replies and refused to cooperate with the investigation, despite being confronted with evidence.

On the other hand, the Enforcement Directorate has alleged that the excise policy was implemented as part of a conspiracy to give wholesale business profit of 12 per cent to certain private companies, although such a stipulation was not mentioned in the minutes of meetings of Group of Ministers (GoM). The agency has also claimed that there was a conspiracy which was coordinated by Vijay Nair and other individuals along with South Group to give extraordinary profit margin to wholesalers. Nair was acting on behalf of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, according to the agency.

Sisodia’s bail applications in both cases – investigated by the CBI and the ED respectively – were rejected by Special Judge MK Nagpal of Rouse Avenue Courts in Delhi on March 31 and April 28.

Last week, the Delhi High Court denied bail to Sisodia in the money laundering case related to the implementation of previous liquor policy in national capital. Earlier, on May 30, the high court rejected his bail plea in the corruption case registered by the CBI in relation to the liquor policy. The former litigator has approached the Supreme Court challenging both these verdicts.

Case Details

1. Manish Sisodia v. Central Bureau of Investigation | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 8167 of 2023
2. Manish Sisodia v. Directorate of Enforcement | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 8188 of 2023