NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate on a plea by former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia for relaxing his bail conditions to mark his attendance before the investigating officer on every Monday and Thursday in liquor policy scam cases.
Upon hearing senior advocate A M Singhvi on behalf of Sisodia, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Vishwanathan sought a response from the central agencies.
The court fixed the matter for consideration after two weeks.
SC Seeks Response from CBI, ED on Sisodia’s Bail Relaxation Request
It also clarified that the court would decide the application on the next date of hearing, as Singhvi expressed his apprehension that the other side may seek adjournments.
In his submission, Singhvi said the petitioner is respectable person and has appeared before the officer about 60 times.
Sisodia was arrested in the cases on February 26, 2023.
Hearing Set for Two Weeks; Court to Decide Application Next
On August 9, 2024, the apex court granted him bail in both CBI and ED cases after having noted that the delay in trial and prolonged incarceration affected his right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Among conditions for bail, Sisodia was told to appear before the investigating officer every Monday and Thursday between 10 am to 11 am.
The court had then set aside Delhi High Court's order of May 21, 2024 declining him the bail.
In the matter, the court had noted in the ED matter as well as the CBI matter, 493 witnesses have been named and the case involved thousands of pages of documents and over a lakh pages of digitised documents. It is thus clear that there is not even the remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future, the bench said.
