New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on July 14 the plea moved by former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia seeking bail in connection with the corruption and money laundering charges related to the now-scrapped excise policy.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud agreed to list the special leave petition on Friday after senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Sisodia, sought urgent listing of the matter citing the ill health of Sisodia’s wife, Seema Sisodia.
“It’s a bail matter. The lady (Sisodia’s wife) is again being hospitalised for the second time. There is a genuine emergency. If it can be listed on July 14,” Singhvi explained to the court.
The bench agreed to prepone the hearing in the matter and said, “Alright, list on (July) 14th.”
The senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader moved the top court last week after the Delhi High Court denied him bail in connection with the money laundering charges being probed by the ED.
On July 3, a division bench of the Delhi High Court refused to grant bail to Sisodia saying that he was not able to meet the twin conditions for grant of bail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and the triple test for grant of bail.
In a statement issued by the Enforcement Directorate on Friday, the probe agency said that it has attached assets worth Rs 52.24 crore belonging to arrested AAP leader Minister Manish Sisodia, his wife and some other accused persons in connection with the Delhi liquor policy case.
Earlier, Sisodia was denied bail by the high court in the CBI case relating to the same scam after observing that the allegations against him were very serious.
The ED had arrested Sisodia on March 9, after the CBI arrested him on February 26 this year. In April, Special Judge M.K. Nagpal had denied bail to the AAP leader holding that the evidence, prima facie, “speaks volumes” of his involvement in the commission of the offence.
The ongoing probe into the Delhi’s excise policy scam case has revealed that former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had allegedly generated Rs 622.67 crore Proceeds of Crime (POC) through different modus operandi, sources familiar with the matter said.
(IANS)
