The Supreme Court on Monday conducted a hearing on the bail plea of former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in the Delhi Excise policy case. On behalf of Sisodia, Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi started the arguments. A bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KB Vishwanathan heard the case. Sisodia has sought bail in the case filed by both the investigating agencies CBI and ED. Earlier, the lower court and the High Court have rejected his bail plea.
Singhvi argued that the Aam Aadmi Party has not benefited from the Excise policy. The trial has not even started in the lower court yet, Singhvi added. Meanwhile, Singhvi raised apprehensions over the conduct of investigating agencies and said that they are delaying the trial in this case. He called it an attempt to prolong the case, requesting the court to see the counter affidavit filed by ED four days ago.
"Further investigation is in progress to ascertain the proceeds of crime and the role of various persons". He said that the ED has cited 162 witnesses and filed 25000 pages of documents. This happened in October. The figures are interesting. 40 people were accused in July 2024. CBI cited 294 witnesses and filed 31000 pages of documents. ED has hidden the documents by putting them in unverified documents. Following this, Singhvi requested the court to grant interim bail to Sisodia till the decision on regular bail does not come.
The court proceedings are to continue at 2 pm with counterarguments by ASG Raju on behalf of ED.
