No temporary bail for Manish Sisodia; Supreme Court to hear interim bail plea in September with regular bail plea

The Supreme Court on Friday did not grant interim medical bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia in connection with Delhi excise policy scam case..A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti said that Sisodia's plea for medical bail will be heard in September along with his plea for regular bail..The Supreme Court had last month issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Sisodia's bail plea in the Delhi excise policy scam.Pertinently, the bench led by Justice Khanna had taken serious note of the medical condition of Sisodia's wife, and asked him to file an interim plea for medical bail.Sisodia, who is embroiled in the excise policy scam case, moved the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi High Court orders denying him bail in the cases registered against him by the CBI and the ED. The Delhi High Court had, on July 3, denied bail to Sisodia in the ED case. On May 30, it had rejected Sisodia's bail plea in the CBI case in relation to the same scam..Today, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju informed the Court that Sisodia's wife had been suffering from the ailment for 26 years.Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi underlined the acuteness of her condition and informed the Court that all her family members were in the USA and that she was living with her aged mother.The Court said that it would consider the medical bail application with the regular bail application. The Court also asked the ASG to provide a clear picture on how the money trail in the case against Sisodia was established..It is alleged that the scam involves officials of the Delhi government conniving to grant liquor licenses to certain traders in exchange for bribes.The central agencies' case is that the excise policy was tweaked and the profit margins changed to benefit certain traders and kickbacks were received in exchange for the same.The ED and the CBI registered cases in relation to the alleged scam after Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe based on a report by the Delhi Chief Secretary. The report claimed that Sisodia violated statutory provisions and notified a policy that had significant financial implications.Although Sisodia was not named in the CBI's chargesheet initially, the CBI filed an additional chargesheet later arraying him as an accused in the case.It is Sisodia's stance that the policy and the changes made in it were approved by the LG and that CBI is now going after the policy decisions of an elected government.According to Sisodia, no money has been traced to him and that the agencies are re-evaluating a liquor policy that was formulated by the elected government and approved by the LG of Delhi.