Delhi excise policy case: SC eases bail terms, AAP’s Manish Sisodia doesn’t need to report to police twice a week

Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia got relief in his bail conditions on Wednesday. The former Delhi deputy chief minister won’t have to report to the investigating officer twice a week in cases related to the Delhi excise policy, after the Supreme Court’s order.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan eased the bail conditions, calling them unnecessary.

“The petitioner shall regularly attend the trial,” the court said.

On November 22, the apex court had agreed to hear Sisodia’s pleas and issued notices to the CBI and the ED seeking their responses.

On August 9, the court had granted him bail in both cases linked to the alleged 2021-22 Delhi excise policy case, saying a 17-month long incarceration without trial deprived him of his right to a speedy trial.

In its verdict, the apex court had said it was high time that trial courts and the high courts recognised the principle, “bail is rule and jail is exception”.

“We find that, on account of a long period of incarceration running for around 17 months and the trial even not having been commenced, the appellant (Sisodia) has been deprived of his right to speedy trial,” it said.

The apex court had set aside the May 21 verdict of the Delhi High Court, which dismissed Sisodia’s pleas seeking bail in these cases.

The court then imposed conditions, including his reporting to the investigating officer every Monday and Thursday between 10 and 11 am.

Sisodia was arrested by both the CBI and the ED in the corruption and money laundering cases, respectively, linked to the alleged excise policy scam.

He was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023, for purported irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.

The following month, the ED arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023.