New Delhi: Manish Sisodia is lodged in Tihar Jail in the Delhi liquor scam case. Former Delhi Deputy CM Sisodia has been in custody for 17 months. He is seeking bail from the Supreme Court. Today is a very important day for Manish Sisodia. Whether he will get bail or not will be decided today. The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Manish Sisodia’s bail plea today. Earlier, the Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on Manish Sisodia’s petition on Tuesday. Sisodia has pleaded for bail in the corruption and money laundering case related to the Delhi Excise Policy.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued on behalf of Manish Sisodia and ASG Raju argued on behalf of ED-CBI. In the last hearing on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had questioned the CBI and ED about the ‘end of the tunnel’ in the liquor scam case. The Supreme Court said that there are a total of 493 witnesses in both the cases. The bench of Justice BR Gavai and KV Vishwanathan asked the CBI and ED how much time will it take to complete the hearing?
The Supreme Court bench told Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, ASG appearing for the investigating agencies, “There are 493 witnesses. Even if you leave out 50% of them, about 250 are still left. Be realistic and tell us when do you see the ‘end of the tunnel’?” After this, ASG Raju said that there are eight important witnesses each in the cases registered by CBI and ED. To this, the bench asked, “When can the hearing begin?” After this, Raju replied, “These (eight) witnesses can be questioned within a month of framing of charges.” He argued that some witnesses were threatened by some other co-accused in these cases.
Why did Raju surround Sisodhya?
ASG Raju said that Manish Sisodia’s claim that the investigating agencies are responsible for the delay in these cases is not correct. ASG Raju said, ‘The trial could have started. Our further investigation was for something else. A charge sheet has been filed against him (Sisodia). Therefore, the trial could have proceeded.’ He also said that Sisodia has not filed any application seeking discharge in these cases.
Raju blamed Manish Sisodia
ASG Raju said that the progress in these cases was delayed because Manish Sisodia and other accused had filed several applications before the lower court seeking documents which were not relied upon by the prosecution. On this, the bench said that the court has not rejected any application calling it frivolous or filed with the intention of delaying the trial. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Manish Sisodia, said that the investigating agencies had never expressed the apprehension of tampering with evidence before. On this, the bench said, ‘We know that in every bail case, there is an allegation of tampering with evidence.’
What argument did Singhvi give?
Singhvi said the arguments made by the prosecution were completely “pretentious” and had never been raised before the High Court or lower court. He said such arguments were made before the apex court on Tuesday to prevent the release of Manish Sisodia. Let us tell you that Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023 for alleged involvement in irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-canceled Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22. The ED arrested him on March 9, 2023 in a money laundering case related to the CBI FIR. He resigned from the Delhi Cabinet on February 28, 2023.
Tags: Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Manish sisodia, Supreme Court
FIRST PUBLISHED : August 9, 2024, 06:52 IST
