Delhi Liquor Scam / Hearing on Manish Sisodia's bail plea today, what happened in 15 months?

Delhi Liquor Scam: Delhi High Court will give its verdict today i.e. on Tuesday on the bail of former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia, who has been in jail for the last 15 months in a money laundering case related to liquor scam. The court will give its verdict on Sisodia's bail plea in both ED and CBI cases related to Delhi Liquor Policy. In such a situation, whether he will get relief from the High Court today or not, everyone's eyes are fixed on the court's decision. The bench of Justice Swarnakanta Sharma will pronounce the verdict at 5 pm.

The High Court had reserved its decision on May 14 after hearing the arguments of all the parties. Sisodia had approached the High Court for bail after the lower court rejected his petition in the liquor scam case. On May 15, Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court had extended Manish Sisodia's judicial custody till May 30. On this day his judicial custody was ending. On May 7, the court had extended the judicial custody of Sisodia till May 15 in the case related to CBI.

What has happened so far in Sisodia's case?

Let us tell you that Sisodia was first arrested by CBI in the liquor scam. This arrest took place last year i.e. on 26 February 2023. The very next month i.e. on March 9, ED arrested Sisodia in a money laundering case related to this. The investigating agency had arrested Sisodia on the basis of the CBI FIR. Sisodia had resigned from the Delhi Cabinet on 28 February. Sisodia applied for bail from Delhi High Court to the Supreme Court, but his petition was continuously rejected.

After his arrest on 26 February, he was produced in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court. The court sent him to CBI custody for five days. After this, the court extended the custody of Char Mart for two more days. On March 7, ED interrogated Sisodia for about six hours. At the same time, after interrogating him for the second time, ED arrested him on March 9. After this he filed a petition for bail but the lower court rejected his petition.

After this he also approached the Supreme Court but the apex court asked him to go to the High Court for bail. On May 3, Sisodia reached Delhi High Court for bail but the High Court rejected his petition. The High Court also rejected his bail plea on July 3. After this, Sisodia reached the Supreme Court on August 4. The top court kept the hearing date as September 5. But that day's hearing was postponed. The hearing in the Supreme Court was postponed several times. On October 30, the apex court rejected Sisodia's bail plea. Let us inform you that CBI and ED had registered a case against Sisodia in August 2022.

Sisodia had again filed a petition for bail in the trial court in March 2024. His bail plea was heard on 2 April. During the hearing, Sisodia's lawyer had said that ED has not yet got anything from Sisodia. It has been more than 10 months since the investigation was completed. ED did not find any evidence. On this day, Rouse Avenue Court sent Sisodia to judicial custody till 6th April. The case was heard again on 6 April.

On this day the court extended his judicial custody till 18 April. Sisodia did not get relief even on 18th April. The court asked the ED why the investigation of the documents has not been completed yet? how much more time will it take? After this, ED told the court that it would take one more month to verify the documents. After this, Rouse Avenue Court had extended the judicial custody of Manish Sisodia till 26 April. After this Sisodia had filed a new petition for bail.

The decision of the lower court was challenged in the High Court

In this petition he had referred to campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja, while hearing Manish's petition, had issued notice to CBI and ED. The next hearing in the case took place on 20 April. The court had reserved its decision on the regular bail petition. After this, Sisodia's lawyer had withdrawn the interim bail petition. On April 30, the Rouse Avenue Court had rejected Sisodia's regular bail plea. CBI had raised objection to Sisodia's bail plea. CBI said that Manish Sisodia is the mastermind in this case. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja had rejected Sisodia's bail plea in both ED and CBI cases. After this, Sisodia had reached the High Court challenging the decision of the Rouse Avenue Court.

On May 14, the High Court had reserved its decision.

At the same time, on May 3, Delhi High Court issued a notice to ED-CBI on the bail plea of Manish Sisodia and sought their reply. Rouse Avenue Court had rejected his regular bail plea on April 30. Special Judge Kaveri Baweja had rejected Sisodia's bail plea in both ED and CBI cases. After this he challenged the decision of the lower court in the High Court. However, on this day, the court gave a big relief to Sisodia and allowed him to meet his wife once a week. After this, the next hearing of the case took place on 7 May. On this day, the High Court had given a week's time to both ED and CBI to file their reply on the bail petitions of Sisodia. During this time, ED had opposed the bail of Sisodia and said that it will make Aam Aadmi Party an accused in this case. On May 14, the High Court had reserved its decision on Sisodia's bail plea.

Letter was written from jail on 5th April

In the letter that Sisodia, lodged in Tihar in the Delhi liquor scam case, had written on April 5, he had expressed the hope that he would soon come out of jail. Sisodia wrote in his letter that the British were also very proud of their power. The British also used to put people in jail on false charges. The British also imprisoned Gandhi-Mandela. Despite the dictatorship of the British rulers, the dream of independence came true.

What are the allegations against Sisodia?

Sisodia was accused of corruption in the liquor scam. It was said that he benefited those who took the license. Liquor companies were given exemption worth crores in license fees. This caused loss to the government treasury. He took decisions against the excise policy. He changed more than a dozen phones to hide evidence in the liquor scam. Also changed many SIM cards. Many such allegations have been made against him.