On Friday, the Supreme Court granted bail to former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in matters related to the Delhi tax policy.
The court granted Manish Sisodia regular bail in instances investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the now-defunct tax policy. Sisodia will be released from jail after 17 months.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said that it would be a “travesty of justice” to relegate him to the trial court for seeking bail in these cases.
The court directed Sisodia to furnish a bail bond of ₹10 lakh with two sureties, surrender his passport, and report twice a week on Monday and Thursday before the Investigating Officer. It said he should not make any attempt to influence witnesses or tamper with evidence. The apex court had reserved its order in the case on August 6.
The bench also refused to accept ED’s request to restrict Manish Sisodia from visiting the Delhi secretariat or the chief minister’s office as was done in the case of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, when he was granted interim bail to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.
The CBI and ED had argued that the petition was not maintainable as Sisodia was required to first approach the trial court.
This was the third time when Sisodia had approached the top court for bail. Last year, on October 30, the top court refused to grant him bail but kept a window open by allowing him to revive his bail plea if the trial fails to conclude in the next six to eight months or proceeds at a snail’s pace.
As the trial failed to begin in six months, Manish Sisodia sought bail on the grounds of delay, but the Delhi high court rejected his plea on May 21. He approached the top court in June when ED told a vacation bench that it would be filing its complaint (or charge sheet) by July 3. Recording this submission, the court refused to go into the merits of the petition. Last month, Sisodia then filed his third plea for bail, taking a second shot against the high court order of May 21.
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