Delhi HC Allows Manish Sisodia To Visit Ailing Wife Once A Week Under Custody

Delhi HC allowed AAP leader Manish Sisodia to visit his ailing wife once a week under custody.

Delhi HC allowed AAP leader Manish Sisodia to visit his ailing wife once a week under custody.

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The Delhi High Court on Friday permitted AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is currently incarcerated in connection with the excise policy case, to meet his ailing wife once a week.

The High Court has also asked the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation to file replies to the pleas of Manish Sisodia seeking bail in money laundering and corruption cases filed against him in the excise policy case in connection with alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.

The matter has now been listed by the high court for further hearing on May 8.

A Delhi court on April 30 rejected Sisodia's bail plea on the grounds that his wife is suffering from a severe renal and gastro disease and Multiple Sclerosis, which is a neuro­degenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system and leads to severe disability to see clearly, write, speak or walk.

He said that since he was the sole caretaker of his wife, should be granted an interim bail. However, the court rejected the bail plea saying that Sisodia has a son who can take care of his wife in his absence.

Sisodia Moves HC Seeking Bail In ED, CBI Cases

Manish Sisodia had approached the HC on Thursday seeking bail in the cases lodged by CBI and ED. The pleas were heard today (May 3) before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.

The former Deputy CM approached the high court after a trial court denied him bail in the matter on April 30.

The bail pleas were mentioned by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's counsel before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P S Arora for an urgent hearing, which was agreed to list the same for Friday.

The probe agencies have alleged that the beneficiaries diverted illegal gains to the accused officials and made false entries in their account books with the intention of evading detection.

In the order passed on April 30, the special judge had denied the relief to Sisodia saying the stage is not right to grant bail to him.

Manish Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023 for his alleged role in the scam. Subsequently, ED arrested him in a money-laundering case, stemming from the CBI FIR, on March 9, 2023.

On February 28, 2023, Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet.

Last year, the high court also dismissed Sisodia's bail pleas in the CBI and ED cases on May 30 and July 3, respectively.

The Supreme Court refused to intervene in the high court's verdict on October 30, 2023, saying the allegation by the probe agencies were tentatively supported by material and evidence, PTI reported.

Last year, the former Deputy CM was granted a similar persmission to meet his ailing wife in June 2023 on the direction of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma. 

However, the High Court asked him to avoid any sort of media interaction or any outsider except his family members. He was also denied access to phone or internet during his visit to his home.