SC grants bail to AAP leader Manish Sisodia in Delhi excise policy scam

New Delhi: Noting that he has been in custody for a year and a half, the Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to AAP leader Manish Sisodia in the corruption and money laundering cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.

A bench of justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan said Sisodia has been in custody for 17 months and trial has not yet commenced, depriving him of the right to speedy trial. The bench said it would be a travesty of justice to relegate him to the trial court for seeking bail in these cases.

The top court said it is high time that the trial courts and high courts recognise that the principle of bail is a rule and jail is an exception. It directed that Sisodia be released on bail on a personal bond of Rs 10 lakh with two sureties of the like amount.

The AAP called the verdict a "victory of truth" and hoped that other jailed leaders of the party "will also get justice". In a post on X in Hindi, party MP Raghav Chadha said, "The whole country is happy today as Manish Sisodia, the hero of Delhi education revolution, got bail. I express my gratitude to the Honorable Supreme Court from the bottom of my heart. Manish ji was kept behind bars for 530 days. His crime was that he gave a better future to the children of the poor. Dear children, your Manish uncle is coming back," Chadha said.

Hailing Sisodia's bail as a "victory of truth", AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, said, "This verdict is a slap on the Centre's dictatorship. He was in jail for 17 months. His life was destroyed in those months. He could have worked for the education of children during that time."

"We hope that other leaders of the party, Arvind Kejriwal and Satyendar Jain, will also get bail and justice. I bow down before the Supreme Court for this verdict," he added. This verdict is a big boost for the AAP, he said. Delhi Education Minister Atishi posted "Satyamev Jayate" on X.

The former deputy chief minister of Delhi was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26, 2023, for purported irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy 2021-22.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in the money laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9, 2023. He resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28, 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.
(With PTI inputs)