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Delhi excise policy scam | Supreme Court dismisses bail pleas of ex-Deputy CM Sisodia in corruption, money-laundering cases

The Supreme Court on October 30 dismissed a bail plea filed by former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who is facing money laundering charges in the liquor policy ‘scam’ case.

A Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna said a “transfer of ₹338 crore has been tentatively established” as a reason for denying bail. Justice Khanna said the prosecution had assured the court that the trial would be concluded in six to eight months.

The Supreme Court directed that if however, the trial proceeded “sloppily”, Sisodia, represented by senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, was at liberty to file a bail application.

The court had reserved the case for verdict on October 17.

During the hearings, the court was seen asking the Enforcement Directorate (ED) how an offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) would be made out in the absence of a bribery charge against Sisodia.

In an earlier hearing, the court had orally observed that the ED had to establish an unbroken chain of evidence linking Sisodia with the liquor lobby. “You have to establish a chain. The money has to flow from the liquor lobby to the person. We know it is difficult to establish the chain as everything is done undercover… but that is where your competence lies,” Justice Khanna had told Raju.

Justice Khanna had noted that a policy may be changed to generate money following pressure from a particular lobby, but provisions of the PMLA would be attracted only after the proceeds of a crime, in this case bribery, were given or paid.

Sisodia was arrested on February 26 for alleged corruption in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22 following several rounds of questioning.

In March, a trial court had dismissed Sisodia’s bail plea saying he was prima facie the “architect” of the alleged scam and had played the “most important and vital role” in the criminal conspiracy related to alleged payment of advance kickbacks of nearly ₹100 crore meant for him and his colleagues in the Delhi government.