Supreme Court to Consider Sisodia's Request for Bail Condition Modification in Liquor Policy Case
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New Delhi, Dec 9 (NationPress) The Supreme Court has decided to entertain a plea from senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and ex-Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia, seeking a relaxation of the bail stipulation that requires him to report to the Investigating Officer every Monday and Thursday.
After senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Sisodia, brought the issue to the court's attention, a bench comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan scheduled a hearing for the plea on December 11.
In August this year, the Supreme Court granted bail to Sisodia, affirming that he could not be detained indefinitely while awaiting a swift conclusion of the trial concerning the alleged excise policy scandal.
When announcing the ruling on Sisodia’s bail applications, a bench led by Justice Gavai stated: "In the current case, involving both the ED and CBI, there are 493 witnesses cited, and the case includes thousands of pages of documents and over 100,000 pages of digitized records."
"This indicates that there is virtually no chance of the trial concluding in the near term. We believe that imprisoning the appellant for an indefinite period while waiting for a speedy trial would infringe upon his Fundamental Right of Liberty as per Article 21 of the Constitution."
The bench, which also included Justice Viswanathan, noted that due to a lengthy period of imprisonment spanning approximately 17 months without the trial commencing, the senior leader of AAP has been denied his right to a prompt trial.
Challenging the argument that Sisodia might tamper with evidence if released on bail, the Supreme Court asserted that the prosecution’s case largely relies on documentary evidence, which has already been secured by the CBI and the ED.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court dismissed the central agencies’ plea that Sisodia should be barred from accessing the Delhi Chief Minister's Office or the Delhi Secretariat.
"The appellant (Sisodia) is required to surrender his passport to the Special Court. He must report to the Investigating Officer every Monday and Thursday between 10-11 a.m., and he is prohibited from attempting to influence witnesses or tamper with evidence," the ruling stated.
In a previous judgment issued on October 30 of last year, the apex court had denied bail to the former Deputy Chief Minister but indicated that if the trial proceeds slowly in the coming three months, he could submit a fresh bail application.
Recently, the Delhi High Court issued a notice regarding Sisodia's plea against the trial court's decision to acknowledge the prosecution complaint submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the alleged liquor policy fraud.
In his petition to the Delhi High Court, Sisodia argued that the trial court recognized the purported violations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) without prior approval from the ED for prosecution.
The petition further claimed that the trial court should not have acknowledged the ED's prosecution complaint without prior sanction since he held public office when the alleged money laundering occurred.
The case is set to be reviewed again on December 20, along with a similar petition submitted by AAP leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who seeks a stay on the trial proceedings citing lack of sanction.
