Delhi excise policy case: ED, CBI couldn’t prove any money has reached me, ex-deputy CM Sisodia tells court

Sisodia has been languishing in jail for more than a year after he was first arrested by the CBI in February last year and by the ED a month later. In the ED chargesheet, Manish Sisodia was named a “key conspirator” in the case.

The former deputy CM is accused of extra-procedural interference in framing the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy, tweaking it for the benefit of particular liquor entities and causing loss of several hundred crores to the state exchequer.

Mathur also added that there were reports to show that the government revenue had actually increased following the now scrapped excise policy.

The senior advocate also argued that Sisodia satisfied the triple test for bail which states that bail may be granted if it is established that the accused is not at flight risk, not influence witnesses and not tamper with the evidence. Sisodia was not influential anymore since he was no longer the deputy CM, he added.

“I have been in custody for 13 months…I have never misused the liberties granted to me by the court,” said Mathur on behalf of Sisodia, adding that co-accused (in the ED excise policy case) Benoy Babu also spent 13 months in incarceration and was granted bail by the Supreme Court on grounds of delay.

In July last year, while seeking bail in the ED case, Sisodia informed the Supreme Court that the agency had not traced any proceeds of crime to him. The Supreme Court had also warned the agency the “case will fall flat” after “two questions in the cross-examination”.

The top court, on more than one occasion, told the ED and CBI that they could not keep Sisodia “in jail indefinitely”.

Yet, on October 30, it denied bail to Sisodia. On December 14, the Supreme Court also dismissed his petition to review its bail verdict. The apex court said the one “clear ground” in the PMLA case that was “tentatively supported by material and evidence” was the Rs 338 crore “excess profit” earned by the wholesalers due to changes made in the policy.

Mathur alleged that the ED had then told the SC that the investigation would be completed in six to eight months and that six months had already elapsed after the order of the apex court and investigation was far from over.

“The delay in the trial is not attributable to Sisodia,” said Mathur, adding that investigation qua him was complete, and therefore he was entitled to get bail in the case.