Excise case: HC to pronounce order on Monday on Sisodia's interim bail plea

The Delhi High Court will on Monday pronounce its order on AAP leader Manish Sisodia's plea seeking interim bail for six weeks in a money laundering case arising from the alleged excise policy scam.

The former Delhi deputy chief minister has sought release on a temporary basis on the ground of being the sole caretaker of his ailing wife. His plea for regular bail in the matter is pending before the high court.

Sisodia, who was arrested on March 9, is currently in judicial custody in the case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The verdict on the interim bail plea will be pronounced by Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma.

It was reserved on Saturday when Sisodia's lawyer had claimed that pursuant to the court's directions passed on Friday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader was taken in custody to meet his wife earlier in the day but the latter's health condition deteriorated and she was taken to be the LNJP Hospital before he could reach home.

The ED has opposed the plea for interim bail on the grounds of possibility of evidence tampering.

The federal agency's lawyer has also claimed that Sisodia's wife has been suffering from a medical condition for the last 20 years and even earlier pleas for interim bail on identical grounds were withdrawn by the former minister.

The Delhi excise policy was implemented by the AAP government on November 17, 2021, but it was scrapped at the end of September last year amid allegations of corruption.

On May 30, the court had dismissed Sisodia's bail plea in the excise policy scam case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), saying he is an influential person and the allegations against him are very serious in nature.

In the CBI case, the high court has kept the interim bail plea pending for July.