Manish Sisodia petitions Delhi HC demanding stay on trial in excise policy case

Senior AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has petitioned the Delhi High Court seeking a stay on trial of the money laundering case linked to the alleged liquor policy scam.

In his petition, Sisodia contended that the trial court took cognisance of the alleged offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) without any prior sanction having been obtained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for prosecution.

The plea added that the trial court should have not taken cognisance of ED's prosecution complaint without sanction since he held a public office at the time of the commission of the alleged money laundering offence.

As per the causelist published on the website of the Delhi High Court, a bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri will take up the matter for hearing on December 2.

A similar petition has been moved by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal seeking a stay of trial citing lack of sanction.

In August this year, the Supreme Court granted bail to Manish Sisodia, saying that he cannot be kept behind bars for an unlimited period of time in the hope of a speedy completion of trial in the excise policy case.

Pronouncing the verdict on Sisodia’s bail pleas, a Bench presided over by Justice BR Gavai had said: “In the present case, in ED as well as CBI matter, 493 witnesses have been named and the case involves thousands of pages of documents and over lakh pages of digitised documents.

“It is thus clear that there is not even a remotest possibility of the trial being concluded in the near future. In our view, keeping the appellant behind bars for an unlimited period of time in the hope of speedy completion of the trial would deprive him of the Fundamental Right of Liberty given under Article 21 of the Constitution.”

The Bench, also comprising Justice KV Viswanathan held that on account of a long period of incarceration running for around 17 months and the trial not having commenced, the senior AAP leader has been deprived of his right to speedy trial.

Rejecting the contention that Manish Sisodia if granted bail may tamper with the evidence, the Supreme Court had said that the prosecution case majorly stems from documentary evidence, which has already been seized by the CBI and the ED.

The SC refused to accept central agencies’ submission that Manish Sisodia should not be allowed to visit the Delhi Chief Minister’s Office or Delhi Secretariat.

In an earlier judgment delivered on October 30 last year, the top court had denied bail to the former Deputy Chief Minister but said that if the trial proceeds slowly in the next three months, he may apply for bail afresh.