New Delhi. Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia, arrested in the Delhi liquor policy scam case, has got a big relief from the Supreme Court today. Manish Sisodia, who has been in jail for 17 months, has been granted conditional bail by the apex court. Sisodia was arrested in February 2023. The court approved the bail petitions filed by Sisodia in both CBI and ED cases, considering the delay in starting the hearing in the liquor policy case. Sisodia will have to fill a bond of Rs 10 lakh each in the ED and CBI cases. Along with this, Sisodia will have to present two sureties and surrender his passport. Sisodia will have to appear before the investigating officer every week on Monday.
Earlier, a bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Vishwanathan had reserved the verdict on August 6. Justice Gavai disagreed with the order of the trial court and the High Court in which Sisodia was held responsible for the delay in the trial. While delivering the verdict, Justice Gavai said that due to the long imprisonment of about 17 months and the trial not starting, the appellant has been deprived of the right to a speedy trial.
#WATCH Delhi | On Supreme Court grants bail to AAP leader Manish Sisodia in the excise policy irregularities case, Advocate representing Manish Sisodia, Rishikesh Kumar says, “The court has said that if you have the evidence then there is no case of tampering. If you have kept… pic.twitter.com/R4BA8UvBHc
— ANI (@ANI) August 9, 2024
The Supreme Court bench says that as the ED had said that the trial in this case will be over in 6 to 8 months, that does not seem to be happening, so Manish Sisodia cannot be kept in jail for more days. The court has told the investigating agencies that if you have evidence then there is no case of tampering. If you have kept Sisodia in jail for such a long time, then it is against the principles of bail. The Supreme Court bench also said that bail is the rule and jail is the exception.
