The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the bail plea of Manish Sisodia, the Ex deputy CM of Delhi on October 30.
Image Source- THE HINDU
SC JUDGEMENT ON MANISH SISODIA BAIL PLEA
All this started on March 9 when Manish Sisodia was arrested in a money laundering case from CBI FIR after a questioning session in the Tihar Jail of Delhi. On 30 May, the Delhi High Court had rejected his plea for bail and regarded that he is a “high profile” person, thus he has the potential to influence the witnesses in his favor and the charges against him are very serious in nature.
While challenging the Delhi High Court order of rejecting his bail plea, he again moved to the Supreme Court of India for bail in a CBI case related to irregularities caused in the Delhi state Excise Policy.
Image Source- MINT
A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti pronounced the verdict who earlier had reversed their verdict on October 17 in this matter.
While delivering the verdict, justice Sanjiv Khanna declared that Manish Sisodia has answered certain legal questions during his custody in a limited way which imposed doubt on these. He further added that the one aspect that regards transfer of money which is around 338 crores is tentatively established and dismissed the bail.
The supreme while giving verdict on this case directed that the trial period for the case should be completed within the next six to eight months, if the proceeding drags slower than this then the Aam Aadmi Party leader will be allowed to apply and appear for bail again within the next three months.
Tracing the earlier proceeds on the case, the Supreme Court of India had also mentioned on 17 October that if the bribe that was paid to alter the Excise policy of the state is not part of the offence, then it will be difficult to prove money laundering case against Manish Sisodia.
However, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi was arrested on February 26 for his role in the scam and resigned from his position in Delhi cabinet on 28 February.
Earlier in this month, Singhvi who had appeared for the embattled legislator had argued that no substantiate evidence was found against Sisodia with the offence of money laundering.
BACKGROUND OF THE MONEY LAUNDERING CASE
The origin of the entire scenario can be traced back to the controversy in designing the Excise Duty for Delhi state by the government to boost the revenue and liquor trade in 2021. However this policy was withdrawn after the Lieutenant-Governor ordered that this policy aims at privatizing the liquor trade in the capital region at the expense of the public and increasing corruption, claims made by CBI and ED.
The rejection of the former Deputy CM’s bail plea by the Supreme Court of India, the highest order is a major setback for him and his Aam Aadmi Party. This can lead to hardship for the party in next Delhi State Legislative Assembly elections and the Lok Sabha elections that are already on the roll next year. This will surely impact the party’s performance in the coming elections as the Supreme Court had already mentioned that the charges made on Aam Aadmi Party leader are serious in nature, which can create opportunity by other political parties to use it as a tool against AAP in election campaigns.
