The Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi's former deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia got bail from the Supreme Court in the excise policy case. The apex court granted bail to the AAP leader in both the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases in connection with the Delhi liquorgate, citing delayed trial and long incarceration.
Sisodia has been in jail for nearly 18 months. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan, which had reserved its judgement on Sisodia's pleas on August 6, rejected the trial court's finding that Sisodia was also responsible for delaying the trial. The Delhi High Court's adverse remarks against the AAP leader in this regard have also been junked by the top court.
The court ordered him to be released on payment of Rs 10 lakh in bail bonds. Sisodia has to surrender his passport and report to the police station every Monday and has been asked to not tamper with evidence or influence witnesses.
Bail can't be rejected as a punishment, said the Supreme Court, adding it's high time that trial courts and high courts realise that bail is the rule and jail an exception.
Pronouncing the order Justice Gavai said, “In matters of liberty, every day counts”.
Sisodia is likely to walk out of the jail on Friday evening or Saturday morning (as soon as the order is uploaded).
The AAP leader was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, for his alleged involvement in the purported irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22. Soon after his arrest, he resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 2023. Later, the ED arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023.
Sisodia had sought bail contending that he has been in custody for 17 months and the trial against him has not yet started. The ED and the CBI had opposed his bail pleas. During the arguments in the matter, the apex court had asked the CBI and ED where they see the end of the tunnel in these cases.