What are the allegations against Manish Sisodia?
#News Bureau August 10,2024
After nearly 17 months, Manish Sisodia came out of jail today as the Supreme Court granted him bail on Friday. On February 26 last year, the CBI arrested him after hours of questioning. He was accused of taking bribe in the Delhi Excise Policy case. Later, the ED also arrested him. But till now the trial in this case has not even started. The Supreme Court reprimanded the agencies for such a delay in the trial.
So the question is, what are the allegations against Manish Sisodia? What have the central agencies been claiming and what arguments have they been giving? Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26, 2023 on charges of bribing liquor sellers. The CBI has accused Sisodia of taking bribe under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Later the ED also arrested him, the charges in this case are under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
His name first appeared in the chargesheet nearly two months after his arrest. Sisodia was made an accused in the supplementary chargesheet filed in the Delhi Excise Policy case at the end of April.
Even before that, in November 2022, when the ED chargesheet was presented after the CBI in the Delhi Excise Policy case, Sisodia’s name was not in it. However, when the CBI registered the FIR, Sisodia’s name was in it. Then many questions were raised over Manish Sisodia’s name not being named in the chargesheets of both the central investigating agencies.
On March 31 last year, while rejecting Sisodia’s bail plea, a Delhi court had said that he had played the most important role in the criminal conspiracy and he was deeply involved in framing the excise policy for that conspiracy as well as in its implementation.
Then last year, the news came that according to the CBI, AAP’s communication in-charge Vijay Nair, former Pernod Ricard employee Manoj Rai, Brindco Spirits owner Amandeep Dhal and Indospirits Group MD Sameer Mahendroo were among the main accused. They were allegedly actively involved in the irregularities in the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Excise Policy. The agency then claimed that middleman Pandey and Radha Industries promoter Dinesh Arora were close associates of Manish Sisodia and were actively involved in managing undue economic benefits from liquor licensees to the accused public servants. The CBI alleged that Pandey had taken an amount of about Rs 2 to 4 crore from Mahendroo on behalf of Vijay Nair.
Now the Supreme Court has made a very important comment on the bail plea of Manish Sisodia, who has been in jail since then. Noting that Sisodia had spent nearly 17 months in jail without trial, the court held that he had been deprived of the right to a speedy trial under Article 21 (right to protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution of India.
Sisodia approached the Supreme Court, arguing that the trial had not begun despite assurances given by the ED and the CBI in October 2023.
The court said that both the trial court and the Delhi High Court should have considered the long term imprisonment of Sisodia while considering his bail plea. The court said that the trial court and the High Court fail to recognise the often stated rule that bail is the rule and jail is the exception.
The court also rejected two objections of the prosecution. In response to the argument that the case should be heard by the trial court, the court said that a citizen cannot have to run from one place to another to get relief. The court rejected the argument that the case was delayed because Sisodia filed repeated applications for delay.
