The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the plea of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, seeking a review of the order denying him bail in the excise policy case. Sisodia was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in February.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti considered Sisodia’s plea in chambers and rejected the request for an oral hearing.
The court’s order, dated December 13, stated, “Prayer for oral hearing of the review petitions is rejected. We have carefully perused the review petitions as also the grounds in support thereof. In our opinion, no case for the review of the judgment dated 30.10.2023 is made out. The review petitions are, accordingly, dismissed.”
The court had previously expressed reservations about some charges brought against Sisodia by the ED. However, the October 10 order acknowledged the presence of “material and evidence” tentatively supporting a charge under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
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The charge alleged that 14 wholesaler distributors had earned an “excess profit” of Rs 338 crore during the 10 months when the new excise policy was in effect.
The bench refrained “from delving… in depth and detail” into certain legal aspects of the case but stated that one specific charge in the PML Act complaint stood free from perceptible legal challenges and was supported by tentative material and evidence.
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