सिसोदिया की जमानत याचिका पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट में सुनवाई आज: जस्टिस संजय कुमार मामले से हटे; शराब नीति केस से मामला जुड़ा है

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26 last year and then by the ED on March 9.

The Supreme Court will hear the bail review petition of former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. Sisodia has filed two separate petitions seeking review of bail in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases related to the liquor policy scam.

On July 11, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Karol and Sanjay Kumar was scheduled to hear the case. However, as soon as the case was put up for hearing, Justice Khanna said, ‘Our brother (Justice Sanjay Kumar) has some problem. He does not want to hear this case due to personal reasons. Justice Sanjay Kumar had recused himself from the case.

The Supreme Court had denied bail on June 4
In fact, the Supreme Court had refused to consider Sisodia’s bail plea on June 4. After this, Sisodia had filed a petition to reconsider it.

Sisodia was arrested by the CBI on February 26 last year and then by the ED on March 9. He resigned from the Delhi Cabinet on February 28, 2023. He is currently in Tihar Jail.

On July 3, a Delhi court extended Sisodia’s judicial custody till July 25 in the ED case. Sisodia is in judicial custody till July 15 in the CBI case.

Sisodia’s bail plea was rejected several times before
Earlier, Manish Sisodia’s bail petitions have been rejected several times. He had filed a bail petition in the Rouse Avenue Court in the ED case, which was rejected on April 28, 2023.

His bail plea in the CBI case was rejected on March 31, 2023. After this, he approached the Delhi High Court. However, the High Court rejected his bail plea in the ED case on July 3, 2023 and his bail plea in the CBI case on May 30, 2023.

The Supreme Court had refused to grant bail to Sisodia on October 30, 2023. The court had said that answers to many questions related to the scam have not been found yet. Among these, transactions worth Rs 338 crore have taken place, in which Sisodia’s role seems suspicious. Therefore the petition is dismissed.

This year, Sisodia again filed a bail petition in the trial court. On April 30, the trial court again rejected Sisodia’s bail petition. Sisodia approached the High Court against this decision. On May 21, the High Court refused to grant bail to Sisodia. After this, he approached the Supreme Court.

Understand the connection between the liquor policy scam and Sisodia in 5 points…

1. New liquor policy came into effect on November 2021
Delhi’s then Deputy CM Manish Sisodia announced the new liquor policy on 22 March 2021. He said that with this policy, liquor shops will go into private hands. When Sisodia was asked the purpose of bringing the new policy, he gave two arguments. First- the mafia rule will end. Second- the government treasury will increase.

The new liquor policy 2021-22 was implemented on 17 November 2021. Due to this, the government got out of the liquor business and this business went into private hands. Due to giving many big discounts, liquor was sold in huge quantities. This increased the government treasury, but this new policy started facing opposition.

2. Allegations of scam in liquor policy in July 2022
On 8 July 2022, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar alleged a scam in the new liquor policy. He submitted a report related to this to LG VK Saxena. It was told that Sisodia gave undue benefits to licensed liquor traders. On the other hand, LG has also said that changes were made in the liquor policy without his and the cabinet’s approval.

3. CBI and ED registered a case on August 2022
LG Saxena demanded a CBI inquiry based on the Chief Secretary’s report. The investigating agency registered a case on 17 August 2022. Manish Sisodia, three retired government officers, 9 businessmen and two companies were made accused in this. A case was registered against all of them under sections related to corruption.

On August 19, raids were conducted at 31 locations in seven states including Sisodia’s house and office. On this, Sisodia claimed that the CBI did not find anything. Meanwhile, on August 22, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a case of money laundering after taking information about the case from the CBI.

4. July 2022 Government canceled the new policy

Seeing the controversy increasing, on 28 July 2022, the Delhi government canceled the new liquor policy. It was decided to implement the old policy again. On July 31, the government said in a cabinet note that despite high sales of liquor, the government’s earnings decreased because retail and wholesale traders were withdrawing from the liquor business.

5. CBI arrested Sisodia in February 2023
Sisodia was in charge of the excise department, so he was allegedly made the main accused in this scam. After questioning him several times, the investigating agency arrested him on February 26. He is currently in jail. The CBI accused Sisodia that as the excise minister, he took arbitrary and unilateral decisions, which caused huge losses to the treasury and benefited the liquor traders.