"Unfair": Manish Sisodia on fourth adjournment of his bail plea by Delhi Court

A Delhi court's decision to adjourn the hearing of a bail plea filed by arrested Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia for a fourth time, till April 20, today drew a sharp response from the counsel representing the former Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi. .Representing Sisodia, advocate Vivek Jain pointed out to Judge Kaveri Baweja that Sisodia has remained in jail for over a year now following his arrest in the Delhi excise policy case."This is going indefinitely. The Supreme Court has said... We moved the application in February. The case has been adjourned four times. The applicant has been in jail for over a year," Jain argued. .However, the court proceeded to adjourn the hearing till April 20 for hearing further submissions. "This is completely unfair," Jain maintained, as today's hearing drew to a close. .Sisodia has been in custody since February 26, 2023. He is being probed by both the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in relation to the Delhi excise policy case.The case involves allegations that Delhi government officials had connived to grant liquor licenses to certain traders in exchange for bribes. The accused officials are alleged to have tweaked the excise policy to benefit certain liquor sellers.Pertinently, Sisodia was earlier denied bail by the Supreme Court on October 30, 2023. At the time, however, the apex court had said he could file a fresh bail plea if the trial proceeded at a snail's pace.Jain referred to the said observation of the Supreme Court today and argued that Sisodia cannot be jailed indefinitely while the trial remains pending."At the end, the SC says that it is concerned with the prolonged incarceration.. The SC says that a person can't be forced to have punishment before trial. I can't be held indefinitely. This argument was accepted by the SC. The court says we agree with you... That point was agreed in our favour. In para 29 the SC notes that it is not a case where crores of people have been looted," Jain said..Meanwhile, the CBI today accused Sisodia of being the mastermind behind the alleged Delhi Excise scam."This is the second bail application. He has to show some new changes. In a nutshell there are three points, parity, speedy trial and third is triple test. We have submitted a note dealing with all the grounds ... He (Sisodia) is the mastermind of the case. There has been no delay in the case on behalf of CBI," the CBI counsel said.The CBI added that since Sisodia is the "architect" of the Delhi liquor policy, he cannot seek the benefit of bail by claiming parity with other accused in the case."The ground of parity does not apply to him. He is the main architect of the entire policy," the CBI counsel said..The ED's special counsel, Zoheb Hossain argued that the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy was meant to be an "evergreen vehicle" to accumulate illegal gains including from future generations. "His bail application has been rejected up to the SC. The SC has come to the conclusion that proceeds of crime in this case is ₹338 crores. The policy was changed, no research done, no calculation nothing ... It was meant to be an evergreen vehicle of gaining illegal gains ... This policy was meant for recoupment of gains for future generations also," Hossain submitted.The ED counsel added that there is proof to indicate that Sisodia met with a "South group" liquor lobby, which had allegedly stood to benefit from the loopholes allegedly left behind in the now-scrapped Delhi Liquor Policy. "We have evidence, bills from Oberoi hotel that there was a meeting with the South Group. A 36-page draft (of the excise policy) was printed," Hossain said. "Do you have the draft?" the Court asked. "No. We have the statements corroborating it. All co-accused persons were present; some of them have become approvers. The document was handed over by Mr. Sisodia to C Aravind at the house of the Chief Minister. To this also, we have the statement of C Aravind," Hossain replied. He also alleged that Sisodia had been involved in the destruction of evidence. "Sisodia said his phone was damaged but he could not tell the whereabouts of his previous phone. As per one statement, it can be witnessed that Sisodia destroyed the old draft cabinet note so that it cannot be accessed by anyone," Hossain said. The ED had earlier also asserted that it was Sisodia who was responsible for any delay in the progress of the trial against him. .On a related note, Sisodia has filed another plea seeking interim bail to campaign for the AAP during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. This plea is also slated to be heard by a Delhi court on April 20.